Pygmy Nuthatch

The pygmy nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) is a tiny songbird in the Nuthatch family, Sittidae. It is about 10 cm (4 in) long and about 10 grams in weight.

It ranges from southern British Columbia south through various discontinuous parts of the western U.S. (northwest U.S., Sierra Nevada range, southern Rockies, etc.), to central Mexico. It is usually found in pines (especially ponderosa pines), Douglas-firs, and other conifers.

Pygmy Nuthatches eat insects (and other invertebrates) and seeds. Flocks of Pygmy Nuthatches forage in pine trees, hopping busily up and down the trunk and out to the outermost tips of the branches. During the breeding season they eat mostly arthropods—including beetles, wasps, ants, bugs, caterpillars, and spiders—by probing cracks, scaling off loose bark, and gleaning from needle clusters and cones. In some locations their diet shifts to mostly pine seeds in the winter, while in others their winter diet resembles their breeding diet.