The White-breasted Nuthatch is the compact gray, black and white bird that climbs head first down a tree trunk and takes sunflower seeds from the feeder one at a time. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology calls it a common feeder bird and the largest nuthatch. Its name comes from its habit of wedging a nut or acorn into bark and hammering it to "hatch" out the seed. In fall and winter a smaller relative, the Red-breasted Nuthatch, can turn up at the same feeders, so this page compares the two. A shorter list of starter species is on common backyard birds.
Photo: Cephas / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Cephas / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick facts
| Fact | White-breasted | Red-breasted |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Sitta carolinensis | Sitta canadensis |
| Length | 5.1–5.5 in (Cornell); 5–6 in (Audubon) | 4.3 in (Cornell); 4.3–4.7 in (Audubon) |
| Weight | 0.6–1.1 oz | 0.3–0.5 oz |
| Wingspan | 7.9–10.6 in | 7.1–7.9 in (Cornell); 6.7–8.3 in (Audubon) |
| Breeding population | 10 million (Partners in Flight, via Cornell) | 20 million (same source) |
| Trend | Up more than 1% a year, 1966–2019 (Breeding Bird Survey, via Cornell) | Increased in most of its range, 1966–2019 (same) |
| Oldest known | At least 9 years 9 months, found in Colorado in 1971 | 7 years 6 months |
| Concern | Low: 6 of 20 on the Continental Concern Score | Low: 6 of 20 |
Where sources differ, both figures are shown; unmarked figures are Cornell's.
White-breasted vs Red-breasted: the comparison
Cornell describes the Red-breasted as "noticeably smaller" than the White-breasted. Size helps when both are on the same feeder, but the face is the quickest single check.
- Face: White-breasted has a plain, frosty white face; the cap and neck frame it like a hood. Red-breasted has a black stripe through the eye with a white stripe above it.
- Cap: black on males of both species. Cornell says females of both have grayer caps; Audubon says the White-breasted female's crown is "often gray," so a dark cap alone does not prove a male.
- Underparts: white on White-breasted; rich rusty-cinnamon on Red-breasted, paler in females.
- Under the tail: White-breasted's lower belly and undertail are often chestnut, while its breast stays white; don't mistake that patch for a red breast. On Red-breasted the rusty color covers the underparts.
- Size and bill: White-breasted is 5.1–5.5 in long, Red-breasted 4.3 in (Cornell), both with a long, sharply pointed bill and a very short tail.
| Feature | White-breasted | Red-breasted | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Habitat | Mature woods, more often deciduous (oak, maple, hickory, basswood); parks and yards with large trees | Mainly conifers (spruce, fir, pine, hemlock); more deciduous woods in the Northeast | Cornell |
| Main call | Loud, nasal yank, often repeated, with a "trembling, almost bleating" quality | Tinny yank-yank, "like tiny tin horns" | Cornell |
| Pitch, per Audubon | Lower, by comparison | "Higher pitched and more nasal" than White-breasted | Audubon |
| Winter movement | Usually resident; in occasional years some move south in the West and North, far less than Red-breasted | Large southward invasions in some falls | Audubon |
| Nest | Natural cavity or old woodpecker hole; sometimes nest boxes | Usually digs its own hole in dead wood; rarely uses nest boxes | Cornell |
| Feeder foods | Sunflower, peanuts, suet, mealworms, safflower | Same list without safflower | FeederWatch |
Calls, compared. The sources describe the same difference from opposite ends: Cornell says the White-breasted's call is more "bleating" than the Red-breasted's, while Audubon calls the Red-breasted's call higher and more nasal. A 2018 Audubon article describes it as a nasal toot, quieter than the White-breasted's.
Other look-alikes and regional voices
Cornell's similar-species list for the White-breasted also includes the Brown-headed and Pygmy Nuthatches, Tufted Titmouse, Brown Creeper, and the Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees; see the chickadee comparison for that pair. Cornell sorts White-breasted recordings into Eastern, Interior West and Pacific groups and notes that western birds have darker upperparts, but that voice is the best way to tell the groups apart.
Voice and behavior
- Song: males sing in late winter and spring, a rapid, nasal wha-wha-wha of 6 to 12 nearly identical notes lasting 2–3 seconds. A faster version, with twice as many notes in the same time, is thought to be the main mate-attraction song (Cornell).
- Calls: both sexes give the yank; pairs foraging together trade a soft yink (Cornell). More songs by ear: bird songs for beginners.
- Climbing: they often start high and work down trunks head first, pausing to crane the neck up and back. Unlike woodpeckers, they don't prop themselves on their tails (Cornell).
- Pairs and flocks: pairs stay on a territory all year and chase other nuthatches away. In winter they join flocks of chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers. In one study cited by Cornell, nuthatches grew warier and less willing to visit exposed feeders when titmice were removed from their flock.
- Displays: agitated birds fan the tail, flick the wings or raise the back feathers (Cornell). During nesting, adults may sweep the nest hole inside and out with a crushed insect held in the bill; Audubon suggests the insects' chemicals may help repel predators.
Caching: why nuthatches keep coming back
If a White-breasted Nuthatch makes more quick trips to a feeder than it could possibly eat, it may be storing seeds for later in winter (Cornell). It hides seeds and insects one at a time, somewhat haphazardly, under loose bark on its territory, often covering each with a flake of bark, lichen, moss or snow. Audubon notes the caching is regular in fall and winter, and that seeds can make up from none of the diet in summer to more than 60% in winter.
Red-breasted Nuthatches cache too, covering food with bark, lichen or pebbles, and in fall and winter they eat many conifer seeds, including ones they stored earlier (Cornell).
Food and feeders
Insects are the main food: weevil and wood-boring beetle larvae, other beetles, caterpillars, ants, stinkbugs and spiders, plus acorns, hawthorn and sunflower seeds (Cornell). Audubon says young are fed entirely on insects and spiders.
| Food | White-breasted | Red-breasted |
|---|---|---|
| Black-oil and hulled sunflower | Yes | Yes |
| Peanuts and peanut hearts | Yes | Yes |
| Suet | Yes | Yes |
| Mealworms | Yes | Yes |
| Safflower | Yes | Not listed |
| Feeder types | Large and small hoppers, large and small tubes, platform, suet cage | Same |
Table: Project FeederWatch's Common Feeder Birds list. Cornell adds peanut butter for the White-breasted. Both species take suet; see suet recipes and heat limits and bird feeder types.
Nesting and nest boxes
The White-breasted usually nests in a natural cavity or an old woodpecker hole and rarely excavates its own, while the Red-breasted often digs its own hole, especially in soft aspen, and smears conifer resin around the entrance (Cornell). The female White-breasted lines the cavity with fur, bark and lumps of dirt, then builds a cup of fine grass, shredded bark and feathers, and pairs often reuse a hole in later years (Cornell). Sources differ on some figures, so both are shown:
| Stage | White-breasted (Cornell) | White-breasted (Audubon) | Red-breasted (Cornell) | Red-breasted (Audubon) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nest height | — | Usually 15–60 ft | — | Usually 5–40 ft |
| Clutch | 5–9 eggs | 5–9, rarely 10 | 2–8 | Usually 5–6, sometimes 4–7 |
| Incubation | 13–14 days | 12–14 days | 12–13 days | About 12 days |
| Nestling period | 26 days | "Uncertain"; reported as 14–26 days | 18–21 days | About 2–3 weeks |
| Broods | 1 | 1 | 1 | Probably 1 |
Nest box (NestWatch):
| Measurement | White-breasted | Red-breasted |
|---|---|---|
| Entrance hole | 1¼ in | 1¼ in |
| Floor | 5½ × 5½ in | 5½ × 5½ in |
| Interior depth | 8 in | 8 in |
| Height above ground | 5–20 ft | 5–15 ft |
| Spacing between boxes | 1,040 ft | 150 ft |
| Facing | South | Away from prevailing wind |
| Inside | 1 in of wood shavings | 1 in of wood shavings |
NestWatch calls the White-breasted an uncommon box user, most likely where natural cavities are scarce, as in wooded residential areas, and says it may use boxes as winter roosts. If House Sparrows take over, NestWatch suggests moving the box farther into the woods; see keeping House Sparrows out of birdhouses. The Red-breasted rarely uses boxes, so NestWatch says they work best where dead trees are absent. Cornell adds a predator guard and putting the box up well before breeding season. Full tables: birdhouse dimensions and the bird nesting timeline.
For your Bird-a-Day streak
The White-breasted Nuthatch stays on its territory all year, so it works as a reserve bird for a hard day (see the challenge guide). The Red-breasted is less predictable. Its southward movement can start in early July and reach its southern limit by September or October (Cornell). Audubon says big invasions come in some falls, perhaps mainly when cone crops in the northern forest are very poor, and that the winter range varies tremendously from year to year, especially in the East. During the fall 2018 flight, Audubon linked the movement to a shortage of spruce seeds, and Kenn Kaufman noted that big flights come in years with a poor spruce cone crop in eastern Canada. In an invasion fall, plan the Red-breasted in with the species planner.
Nuthatch-friendly yard checklist
- Sunflower seed, peanuts and suet in a hopper, tube or suet cage
- Large trees, especially mature deciduous ones for the White-breasted
- Dead or partly dead trees left standing where safe; Cornell says too much pruning or felling of dead wood reduces nest sites
- A nest box with a 1¼-inch hole, 1 inch of wood shavings and a predator guard, put up well before breeding season
- Feeders cleaned on a schedule: see how to clean a bird feeder
Sources
- White-breasted Nuthatch Overview — All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- White-breasted Nuthatch Identification — All About Birds
- White-breasted Nuthatch Life History — All About Birds
- White-breasted Nuthatch Sounds — All About Birds
- Red-breasted Nuthatch Overview — All About Birds
- Red-breasted Nuthatch Identification — All About Birds
- Red-breasted Nuthatch Life History — All About Birds
- Red-breasted Nuthatch Sounds — All About Birds
- White-breasted Nuthatch — Audubon Guide to North American Birds
- Red-breasted Nuthatch — Audubon Guide to North American Birds
- Red-breasted Nuthatches Are Invading the Northeast This Fall — Audubon (Andrew Del-Colle, 2018)
- White-breasted Nuthatch nest box — NestWatch
- Red-breasted Nuthatch nest box — NestWatch
- Common Feeder Birds — Project FeederWatch