A few of our winter visitors/residents are now being seen around Nashville and middle-TN. In recent weeks there have been several reported sightings of Red-breasted nuthatches. This is a bird that usually calls the higher elevations of Eastern Mountains home. This nuthatch is found irregularly in TN from late September to early May. Some years they appear in abundance, others few are present. For this it is recognized as an “irruptive” migrant. Red-breasted nuthatches are smaller than the White-breasted nuthatch and even smaller than the Carolina Chickadee. Measuring in at 4 ½ inches in length it’s understandable one could miss them coming and going from a feeder. They have a black cap and prominent eye line that stands out next to the white brow. And with rust underparts and gray back this is one handsome little bird. You may be familiar with the call of the White-breasted nuthatch being a repeating nasal “yank” “yank” “yank”. The Red-breasted nuthatch call is similar but higher in pitch and has been compared to a toy tin horn.
To Hear the Red-breasted nuthatch call visit Cornell Lab at allaboutbirds.org
An important connection to the presence of Red-breasted nuthatches is pine and/or cedar trees. Pine and cedar offer important food sources and provide dense cover. A poor cone crop in their usual range may explain why they leave those areas for better food availability elsewhere. So, if you live in an area with some stands of pine and cedar keep an eye on your sunflower, woodland blend, and suet feeder. Like chickadees and titmice they will grab a seed, or chunk of suet, and go, not lingering around the feeder.
Hopefully, the appearance of Red-breasted nuthatches is an indication of interesting things to come this winter. It would be nice to see good numbers of Pine Siskins and Purple Finch as well. Have a good weekend. Go look for some birds!