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Pygmy Nuthatch

Sitta pygmaeaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Nuthatches (Sittidae)
Pygmy Nuthatch Portrait
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Range Map for Pygmy Nuthatch

Overview

Pygmy Nuthatch: Small nuthatch, blue-gray upperparts and pale yellow breast. Head has a dark gray-brown cap, pale spot on nape, and thick black eye-line; throat is white. Legs and feet are gray. Weak fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides, usually of short duration.

Range and Habitat

Pygmy Nuthatch: Resident locally from southern British Columbia, eastward to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and southward into Mexico. Primary habitat consists of ponderosa pine forests with undergrowth of bunchgrass; also occurs in stands of other pines, Douglas firs, and western larch.

Splitbar

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Voice Text

"tee-dee, tee-dee", "wee-bee, wee-bee"

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Related Birds:

Brown Creeper
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown-headed Nuthatch
.

Copyright © 2005 WBFI Research Foundation Bird database and its related content and media is Copyright (C) 2002 - 2005 Mitch Waite Group All rights reserved.

Family Nuthatch (Sittidae)_blue
Species Sitta pygmaea
Length4.25 Inches
Wingspan8 Inches

Pygmy Nuthatch

Pygmy Nuthatch: Small nuthatch, blue-gray upperparts and pale yellow breast. Head has a dark gray-brown cap, pale spot on nape, and thick black eye-line; throat is white. Legs and feet are gray. Weak fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides, usually of short duration.

● Song: "tee-dee, tee-dee", "wee-bee, wee-bee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Pygmy Nuthatch: Diet consists of caterpillars, moths, other insects, and conifer seeds; forages by climbing up and down trunks and branches, often turning upside down and sideways.

● Breeding & nesting: Pygmy Nuthatch: Four to nine white eggs with red brown flecks are laid in a nest made of soft plant material, in a cavity of a dead pine or stump, usually about 15 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 15 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Pygmy Nuthatch: Red-breasted Nuthatch is larger and has black cap and black eye-line with a white eyebrow.

Flight Pattern

Short flights, weak and fluttering, with several rapid wing beats.
Pygmy Nuthatch Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Pygmy Nuthatch: Resident locally from southern British Columbia, eastward to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and southward into Mexico. Primary habitat consists of ponderosa pine forests with undergrowth of bunchgrass; also occurs in stands of other pines, Douglas firs, and western larch.
BreedingMonogamous, Cooperative
PopulationFairly common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight0.4 Ounces