Red-breasted nuthatch
Sitta canadensis
Identification Tips:
- 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.