Red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4 inches
• Straight gray bill
• Black crown and eyeline with white supercilium
• White lower face and throat
• Blue-gray upperparts
• Reddish underparts
• Short tail
• Sexes similar but female duller
• Feeds by hopping along tree trunks and branches often hanging upside down
• Most often found in pine trees

Similar species:

Because of its unique feeding strategy, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is most likely to confused with other nuthatches. White-breasted Nuthatch lacks a black eyeline and has mostly white underparts. Brown-headed and Pygmy Nuthatches have brown caps, white patches on the nape and lack the eyelines.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.