NUTHATCH (SITTA EUROPAEA)
With its powder blue upperside, blended cream and rusty
orange underside and charcoal bandit mask , the Nuthatch Sitta europaea looks as if it has been coloured with pastilles, but
is surprisingly difficult to see in its shady habitat. The nuthatch is truly a
woodland bird, and with good reason. Like a woodpecker (which it resembles) it
finds food on and under tree bark, hopping up, down and around the trunk and
branches in search of insects. The nuthatch is the only British bird capable of
climbing down a tree trunk head first. They achieve this through not relying on
their tail as a prop, as woodpeckers and treecreepers Certhia familiaris do, and by having especially large, strong feet
which they position one behind the other to act as a pivot and support1.
The nuthatch reveals itself by its insistent piping call or the crackling sound of it pecking and peeling bark. Even then, they are difficult to keep track of as they scoot and weave behind the tree in and out of view. However, they are quite tame and will call or feed a couple of meters away.
The nuthatch also eats seeds and nuts in autumn and winter when insects become scarce, cracking them by shoving them into a bark crevice and thrusting down with its powerful beak. This habit earned them their original, more powerful name ‘Nut hacker’ which has since become corrupted2.
Nuthatches are partial to peanuts and seeds from garden feeders and bird tables, where they aggressively chase off other small birds, especially other nuthatches. Though they are increasingly seen in gardens where they are most easily observed, they only visit those near woodlands. Nuthatches stay very close to their birthplace, and even patches of suitable natural woodland may not be colonised if they are too far from others3. However, nuthatches are slowly moving North with warmer British weather, and were first recorded breeding in Scotland in 19894
Perhaps because they don’t move far and because they nest in scarce tree holes, territory is very important to nuthatches. Neighbouring pairs have frequent stand-offs. Usually these are just posturing, but sometimes they escalate into fights when their beaks often inflict serious injury or death4. Juvenile nuthatches have to wait in the wings in low-quality territories until a position in a breeding territory becomes available5. Though they are a small bird and reach adulthood at just 1 year, nuthatches have been recorded at 7 years old6.
Nuthatches are crafty birds. They store seeds and nuts for the winter by pushing them into gaps in tree bark or wood. Come nesting time, they will plug up their nest hole with mud, which hardens like concrete until only their bodies can pass through. This keeps out nest predators such as woodpeckers and competitors like starlings Sturnus vulgaris, but they can be over-enthusiatic, filling up the joins in nestboxes and even encasing them entirely 1,3!
I have also once seen one of a pair of nuthatches in Worcester use a piece of bark to prise off another part and wondered if this counted as tool use. This behaviour (this time with a small stick) has been photographed before. Its American relative, the brown-headed nuthatch is renowned for using tools in a similar way.
The nuthatch reveals itself by its insistent piping call or the crackling sound of it pecking and peeling bark. Even then, they are difficult to keep track of as they scoot and weave behind the tree in and out of view. However, they are quite tame and will call or feed a couple of meters away.
The nuthatch also eats seeds and nuts in autumn and winter when insects become scarce, cracking them by shoving them into a bark crevice and thrusting down with its powerful beak. This habit earned them their original, more powerful name ‘Nut hacker’ which has since become corrupted2.
Nuthatches are partial to peanuts and seeds from garden feeders and bird tables, where they aggressively chase off other small birds, especially other nuthatches. Though they are increasingly seen in gardens where they are most easily observed, they only visit those near woodlands. Nuthatches stay very close to their birthplace, and even patches of suitable natural woodland may not be colonised if they are too far from others3. However, nuthatches are slowly moving North with warmer British weather, and were first recorded breeding in Scotland in 19894
Perhaps because they don’t move far and because they nest in scarce tree holes, territory is very important to nuthatches. Neighbouring pairs have frequent stand-offs. Usually these are just posturing, but sometimes they escalate into fights when their beaks often inflict serious injury or death4. Juvenile nuthatches have to wait in the wings in low-quality territories until a position in a breeding territory becomes available5. Though they are a small bird and reach adulthood at just 1 year, nuthatches have been recorded at 7 years old6.
Nuthatches are crafty birds. They store seeds and nuts for the winter by pushing them into gaps in tree bark or wood. Come nesting time, they will plug up their nest hole with mud, which hardens like concrete until only their bodies can pass through. This keeps out nest predators such as woodpeckers and competitors like starlings Sturnus vulgaris, but they can be over-enthusiatic, filling up the joins in nestboxes and even encasing them entirely 1,3!
I have also once seen one of a pair of nuthatches in Worcester use a piece of bark to prise off another part and wondered if this counted as tool use. This behaviour (this time with a small stick) has been photographed before. Its American relative, the brown-headed nuthatch is renowned for using tools in a similar way.
Next time you’re in a woodland, make an effort to listen out
for this agile and crafty character around a tree trunk near you.
References
1- Dominic Couzens. (2012) Garden Birds Confidential. Bounty
Books.
2- Fransesca Greenoak. (1979) All the Birds of the Air. A.
Brown and Sons.
3- Peter Holden and J.T.R. Sharrock. (1989) The RSPB book of British Birds.
PAPERMAC, London.
4-Tim Harrison and Mike Toms. (2012) BTO Garden Bird of the Month – November: Nuthatch. Available from: http://www.discoverwildlife.com/blog/bto-garden-bird-month-%E2%80%93-november-nuthatch
5- Erik Matthysen.(1990) Behavioural and ecological
correlates of territory quality in the Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea). The Auk, 107 (1), 86-95. Available from:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4087805?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102756365933
6- R.A. Robinson.(2005) BTO
BirdFacts: profiles of birds occurring
in Britain & Ireland: Nuthatch Sitta europaea Available from: http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob14790.htm
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