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Eurasian Nuthatch

Eurasian Nuthatch

Sitta europaea

Identify the Eurasian Nuthatch by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Eurasian Nuthatch is a small, compact, blue-grey woodland bird with a black eye stripe, found across much of Europe and Asia. It is famous for climbing trunks head-first downwards. It nests in tree holes, often old woodpecker holes, and the female plasters oversized entrances with mud to the right size. It stores food year-round.

Did you know?

  • The female plasters the nest entrance with mud to make it just the right size.
  • The name “nuthatch” comes from how it hacks open nuts wedged in crevices.

Voice

Song
Call
Alarm call

About the species

Identification

A small, big-headed, short-tailed songbird with a straight, sharp bill. The back is blue-grey, and a black stripe runs through the eye; the underparts are white or orange-buff depending on the subspecies, and the vent is rufous. It differs from tits in its black eye stripe and its habit of climbing trunks head-first downwards; it is not brown and streaked like treecreepers.

Family

Sittidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

grey, orange, white, black

About the habitat

Mature deciduous or mixed woodland with large old trees, especially oak, as well as parks and gardens with old trees.

Diet

Insects such as caterpillars and beetles in summer; nuts and seeds in autumn and winter, which it wedges into bark and hammers open. It visits feeders for seeds and fat and caches surplus food.

Behaviour

A vocal, active climber that forages on trunks and thick branches, often moving head-first down. It gives a ringing, repeated “dwip” and clear whistles. Pairs defend permanent territories. Eastern birds sometimes irrupt westwards in autumn.

Sources

Photo: Isiwal, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kleiber Sitta europaea-0447.jpg

Sound: Pascal Christe, XC466459, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/466459

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707700, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707700

Sound: Carlo Fracasso, XC788450, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/788450

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_nuthatch

See also