From Opus

Photo by john-henry
Lesvos

Alternative name: Rock Nuthatch

Sitta neumayer

[edit] Identification

13.5cm

• Dark grey upperparts
• Long strong black eyestripe
• White throat and underparts shading to buff on the belly
  

Sexes are similar
Young birds are slightly duller versions of the adults.

[edit] Distribution

Serbia east through Greece and Turkey to Iran.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• S. n. neumayer :

• Balkan Peninsula

• S. n. syriaca:

• Western and central Turkey to Syria, Lebanon and Israel

• S. n. rupicola:

• Extreme eastern Turkey to northern Iraq and northern Iran

• S. n. tschitscherini:

• Zagros Mountains (south-western Iran)

• S. n. plumbea:

• South-central Iran (mountains of southern Kerman Province)

[edit] Habitat

Bare rocks, especially in mountainous areas.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects and spiders in summer, seeds and snails in winter.

[edit] Breeding

It builds a flask-shaped nest from mud, dung and hair or feathers, lined with softer materials and the entrance is sealed with mud, in a rock crevice, cave, or under an overhang on a rock face. Decorative items may be pushed into crevices and cracks near the entrance to the nest. 4-10 white, speckled with yellow, eggs are laid.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Wikipedia

[edit] External Links