Red-breasted Nuthatch hanging upside down, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah

Red-breasted Nuthatch Images, Facts and Information:

Sitta canadensis

  • Red-breasted Nuthatches are compact, blue-gray birds with short tails, sharp bills, black caps with white eye stripes. As their name indicates their breasts are red colored and the breasts of females are a duller, lighter red than the males.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches from the north appear to migrate while other populations are year round residents some years while in other years they can show irruptive movements. The irruptions appear to happen during years when food is scarce in their normal range.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches are one of the smallest song birds.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches prefer habitats with coniferous woods and mountains that contain pines, spruce, fir, hemlocks, aspens, poplars, oaks, hickorys, maples, birches and other deciduous trees.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches eat insects, seeds, nuts and spiders.
  • Nuthatches are both primary and secondary cavity nesters. They lay 4 to 7 eggs which hatch in 12 days. The female incubates.
  • A group of nuthatches is called a “jar” of nuthatches.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatches live up to 7 years.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Red-breasted Nuthatch photos.

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