Backyard & Woodland Songbirds
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Sitta pusilla
A tiny nuthatch of southern pine forests that sometimes uses a flake of bark as a tool to pry up other bark. Its calls sound like a squeaky rubber duck.
How to identify it
- Brown cap down to the eye
- Small white spot on the back of the neck
- Blue-gray back and pale underparts
- Squeaky "rubber-duck" calls
SizeAbout the size of a Carolina Chickadee
Brown-headed Nuthatch4 in
Carolina Chickadee4 in
Song Sparrow6 in
American Robin10 in
6 inAverage length, bill to tail
Details
- Size
- about 4 in long; wingspan about 7 in
- Weight
- about 0.4 oz
- Habitat
- Open pine forests and pine-filled neighborhoods
- When to see it
- Year-round across the Southeast
- Diet
- Insects and pine seeds
Range in the United States
Life history
Food
Eats insects and spiders found in pine bark, plus pine seeds, especially in winter.
Nesting
A cavity dug into a dead pine stump or post, or a nest box.
- Clutch
- 3–7 eggs
- Incubation
- about 14 days
- Young
- Fledge at about 18–19 days
- Broods
- 1 per year
Behavior
Travels in noisy family groups. Extra adults often help a pair raise its young.
Conservation
Declining with the loss of mature southern pine forests.
Cool facts
- It uses a flake of bark as a lever to pry up other bark, a rare example of tool use.
- Its squeaky calls sound like a rubber duck.
- It rarely leaves pine forests.
Songs & calls
▶Bird sounds video coming soon
Watch the Brown-headed Nuthatch
▶Video coming soon
