White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis

White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis nelsoni. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, December 2006. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

The White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis nelsoni, is one of nine subspecies of White-breasted Nuthatch, seven of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Sittidae Family of Nutatches, that has twenty-eight placed in one genera, the Sitta Genus. Their common name stems from practice of storing large seeds in nuts within the crevices of large tree branches and trunks.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is small in stature. They are sexually dimorphic with the males having a black crown and the females a grayish crown. They have a white face and breast with a bluish-gray back and wing coverts with white margins. Their undertail coverts and sides are rusty. Their large and nearly as long as the head and slightly upturned bill is dark bluish-slate to black above and lighter at the base with the cutting edge of the mandibles off-white; their iris is dark brown; their legs and feet are dusky brown; and, their tail is short with white corners.

They are found in montane woodlands of semi-humid pine and pine-oak and on occasion in residential areas normally at elevations between 1,500 m (4,900 feet) and 3,500 m (11,500 feet). They are normally found in pairs. They are normally seen walking head downward on large branches and trunks, probing crevices for seeds and insects which they store in crevices. Their diets consist primarily of insects and plant material including acorns and nuts. Their nests are within natural holes in large, old trees. They have life spans of up to ten years. The White-breasted Nuthatch has been poorly studied and very little is known about their biology and behavioral patterns has been documented.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a straightforward identification due to its white breast that is not easily confused with any other species with the possible exception of the Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sitta pusilla (brown cap, dark line through the eye, white spots on the hindneck).

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a common resident of the deciduous forests of North America. They are non-migratory year-round resident of Mexico being found in the extreme northwest corner of Baja California and the southern tip of Baja California Sur and throughout the central plateau south to the interior of eastern Oaxaca. The nelsoni subspecies is found from the in the northern and central portions of Sonora.

From a conservation perspective the White-breasted Nuthatch is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their long-term survival is being threatened by the removal of large trees in which they nest. They are frequent visitors to home bird feeders and known to hoard large quantities of food in numerous locations.

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