Red-breasted Nuthatch

The red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is a small songbird in the Nuthatch family, Sittidae. It breeds in coniferous forests across Canada, Alaska and the northeastern and western United States.

Though it is primarily a full-time resident of northern and subalpine conifer forests, the red-breasted nuthatch regularly migrates irruptively, with both the number migrating and the wintering locations varying from year to year. They sometimes reach northern Mexico, where they are rare winter visitors to Nuevo León, Baja California Norte and south along the Pacific slope as far as Sinaloa.

The red-breasted nuthatch’s diet changes depending on the season. In the summer, it eats mostly insects, occasionally even flycatching, while in the winter, it switches to conifer seeds. At feeders it will take sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and suet.