A Trio of Nuthatches

BirdNote^®

A Trio of Nuthatches

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote!
[Call of Red-breasted Nuthatch]
 A Red-breasted Nuthatch’s comical, nasal voice announces its perch atop a tall fir tree. As it calls, the energetic little bird pivots back and forth, while rapidly flicking its wings. You might call it the “nuthatch dance.” [Call of Red-breasted Nuthatch]
At less than five inches long, the Red-breasted is the mid-sized nuthatch of the three species in the Northwest, and the most familiar. [Call of Red-breasted Nuthatch]
The White-breasted Nuthatch is the largest of the three, and boasts a louder, honking voice. [White-breasted Nuthatch calls] The smallest of the trio is the Pygmy Nuthatch, its high-pitched peeping in keeping with its petite size. [Pygmy Nuthatch calls]
Nuthatches are among the most engaging of all small birds, as they scamper nimbly up and down trunks and branches. Compact and stubby-tailed, nuthatches have slender, sharp bills ideally suited for peeling open conifer seeds or probing for insects in the crevices of a tree’s bark. [A quick medley of the three species calls]
 And with a birdfeeder stuffed with peanut butter or suet, you can invite one of these arboreal acrobats to your own backyard. [Call of Red-breasted Nuthatch]
Learn which nuthatch to expect at your feeder by visiting BirdNote.org.  I’m Frank Corrado.
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Bird audio provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  Red-breasted Nuthatch recorded by C. Marantz.  White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch calls recorded by G.A. Keller.
Producer:  John Kessler
Executive Producer:  Chris Peterson
© 2010 Tune In to Nature.org         June 2010

ID# 061107nuthatchKPLU       nuthatch-01