From Opus

Photo by KC Foggin
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA, September 2006

Sitta pusilla

[edit] Identification

10cm

• White underparts
• Brown cap
• Narrow black eyeline
• Buff white cheeks, chin, and belly
• Blue-grey back, nape, wings, and rump
• White spot on nape of neck
• Sharp black bill

[edit] Similar Species

Similar to Pygmy Nuthatch.

[edit] Distribution

Southeastern United States and the Bahamas, on Grand Bahama. Found from south-eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas through central Arkansas, Tennessee, and the Gulf Coast states, to southern Maryland and Delaware, Virginia, then south to southern Florida.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

There are 2 subspecies:

• S. p. pusilla:

• Pine forests of south-eastern US

• S. p. insularis:

• Grand Bahama Island

[edit] Habitat

Mixed forests and open pine forests and gardens.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes cockroaches, beetles, and spiders and pineseeds.

Visits garden feeders.

[edit] Breeding

They nest in a tree cavity; the eggs are incubated for 14 days. The young fledge 18 days later.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Audubon
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links