The 'upside down birds' known as Nuthatches

By Al Lowe
Contributor

If you are interested in birds at all, you will know about the 'upside down' birds of our northern woods. No other birds in this area run down trees head first. We have two species of these curious little birds.
The larger of the two is the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) About the size of a sparrow, it has a completely white face, with deep black on its crown and the back of its neck. Back is distinctly blue, front is completely white. The other one is quite a bit smaller, the Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). It is similar to its larger cousin, but has a broad black stripe through its eye, and its breast is quite reddish. If you are looking for birds in the woods, you will usually see this one. In farm or built up areas usually the other one will appear. Where the two areas overlap, it is quite common to find both.
Nuthatches are particularly useful birds. All of this creeping around trees and branches is a search for food. In the winter, this food is made up almost entirely of insect eggs and pupae, and dormant insects. One bird will eat several thousand of these items in a single day. In one case, the crop of a nuthatch was found to contain over 1600 insect eggs - and this was only one meal for one bird. They are also fond of nuts and seeds. Seeds such as sunflowers are wedged into the crevice of a tree, and then hammered open. The same thing happens to acorns or hazelnuts, and that's where the name 'nuthatch' came from. Actually the original name was 'nut-hack', from England. The bird hacked nuts apart with its beak.
Nuthatches nest in hollow trees - old woodpecker holes and the like. They can, and do make their own nests, and they will take up residence in bird boxes, although not too often. They will easily come to bird feeders, especially if there is suet available. They are certainly not very alarmed by people, and will learn to eat out of your hand quite quickly.
The song of the White-breasted Nuthatch is very much like a man whistling for his dog. It is quite a pleasant song and, unlike many birds, the nuthatch sings all year and not just in the spring. It also makes some funny noises - one in particular is a very nasal 'ank' or 'quank', repeated endlessly. Another is a rather soft 'hit - hit'. Since nuthatches have a habit of talking to themselves most of the time, you will probably hear this bird long before you spot him creeping along the branches.
Generally, we consider these birds as year-round residents, although at times a sort of migration occurs. The birds further north tend to drift south sometimes.
Our two nuthatches are odd, friendly and useful birds to have around.