What is with that crazy bird? Why does he just climb down the tree then fly to the top and then climb down again? It is a nuthatch. It’s habit of hopping headfirst down tree trunks helps it see ...

Despite being one of the more common local birds, you may have never seen a Pygmy nuthatch. Their miniscule four-inch-long bodies are easy to overlook. They thrive in conifer forest, especially ...

In this paper, we use mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequences to test Pleistocene refugial hypotheses for the pygmy nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea). Pygmy nuthatches are a common resident of ...

Pygmy nuthatches are frequent visitors to our winter suet feeder. Delightful small birds, Sitta pygmacea often perch upside down. Routinely, we see three to four, their quick movements captivating.

If you see a very agile, active little bird hopping down a tree trunk headfirst, or hanging upside down, it is probably a nuthatch; maybe a red-breasted or a white-breasted nuthatch. I’ve always ...

They move like half-ounce sprites. With head facing the ground and tail pointed up the tree trunk, these tiny birds quickly hop down the trunks and branches of trees, gleaning bugs from under the bark ...

Even by nuthatch standards, the pygmy nuthatch is a small bird. In appearance, this nuthatch shows buffy-white underparts contrasted with a brown head and a slate-gray back. They often breed in large ...

Nuthatches prefer a headfirst stance as they search for food in the nooks and crannies in tree trunks and branches. The U.S. is home to four species of nuthatches: white-breasted, red-breasted, ...

The neighborhood keeps changing. One of my reliable sources tells me that pygmy nuthatches—relative newcomers to the East Bay—now nest in the Berkeley hills. A checklist of Berkeley hills birds ...

People who feed birds are probably familiar with the white-breasted nuthatch, a common backyard visitor. They typically fly in to the feeder, grab a sunflower seed and dart off to a nearby tree with ...

The pygmy nuthatches, each small enough to hide inside a tennis ball, redirected my thoughts from watching elk to listening to the world. In the middle distance an elk harem casually grazed while the ...

The white-breasted nuthatch is often observed walking and probing head-down on the trunks of large conifers in mature wooded areas. The first impression is a small bird with a very white head and ...