Nuthatch Diversion

     Nuthatches are an attractive and unique family of small, woodland birds that have characteristics of their own, particularly being able to walk down vertical tree trunks head first in their search for invertebrates and their eggs in crevices in the bark.  This is a trait no other family of birds has.
     All nuthatches come to feeders, especially in winter, to avail themselves of the easy pickings.  They are called nuthatches for their habit of pushing seeds into bark crevices to pound their shells open with their sturdy, sharp beaks to get the nutrition out.
     There are three kinds of nuthatches in eastern North America- white-breasted, red-breasted and brown-headed.  And, although they are all related and have traits in common, they have diverged into different habitats to take advantage of the same kinds of foods, but with less competition with their relatives for it.  And no matter what habitat they reside in, all nuthatches raise young in tree cavities, including abandoned woodpecker hollows.    
     White-breasted nuthatches are permanent residents in maturing deciduous forests and older suburban areas with their many tall trees across the United States, except in the treeless, mid-western prairies.  They seem formally attired with blue-gray upper parts, white bellies and faces and dark crowns.  They are the largest and possibly the most common species of nuthatch in North America.  They certainly are the most often seen by the majority of people, particularly in the suburbs.
     Attractive little guys, red-breasted nuthatches are a bit smaller than white-breasts.  They are again blue-gray on top, but peach-colored below, a way to distinguish between white-breasts and red-breasts.  Attracted to nesting in northern evergreen tree habitats, this species summers in mixed coniferous forests across Canada and down the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains.  But being migratory, they winter all over North America, from coast to coast and from the southern tip of James Bay in Canada south to the Gulf of Mexico.  The lack of food in the north some winters is why this type of nuthatch moves south for the winter.   
     Interestingly, red-breast pairs put sticky tree sap around their nesting cavities, presumably to stop predators from reaching into the hollows to eat the nuthatches' eggs or young.    
     Brown-headed nuthatches are adapted to living and nesting in pine woods, but in the southern United States, which separates them from both their relative species in eastern North America.  This species inhabits pine woods mostly in the Deep South, North Carolina and up the Atlantic Coast to southern Delaware.  Brown-heads are our smallest nuthatches.  Interestingly, brown-heads use small chips of bark as tools to pry loose other bits of bark to get the invertebrates underneath.
     Nuthatches are a small, but interesting, family of attractive birds with unique characteristics, particularly walking down vertical tree trunks head first.  But the different kinds have spread themselves into different niches to lessen competition for nesting space and food with their relatives.  However, all nuthatch species are enjoyable to experience.