From Opus

Photo by Nigel Blake

Alternative name: Wood Nuthatch

Sitta europaea

[edit] Identification

14cm.

• Blue grey upperparts
• Black eyestripe
• White below
• Chestnut vent
• Short tail

[edit] Distribution

Europe and Asia.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

There are 19 subspecies:

• S. e. caesia: underparts rusty-red, vent dark reddish-brown

• Britain to Denmark, Carpathian Mountains, Pyrénées and Balkan Peninsula

• S. e. europaea: Scandinavia and Russia to Volga and Vyatka basins and Ukraine
• S. e. asiatica: White supercillium and sometimes a white forehead

• Eastern European Russia to Sea of Okhotsk, southern Kuril Island and northern Japan

• S. e. arctica: North-central Siberia to Anadyr River (eastern Russia)
• S. e. hispaniensis: Iberian Peninsula
• S. e. atlas: Morocco
• S. e. cisalpina: Southern Switzerland, Italy, Sicily and coastal Yugoslavia
• S. e. levantina: Western Asia Minor, Levant and southern Turkey (east to Euphrates River)
• S. e. caucasica: Northern and north-eastern Turkey, Caucasus region and Transcaucasia
• S. e. rubiginosa: South-eastern Transcaucasia (Talyshskiye and Gory mountains) to northern Iran
• S. e. persica: Zagros Mountains (south-western Iran)
• S. e. seorsa: North-western China (eastern Tien Shan Mountains of northern Xinjiang)
• S. e. sakhalinensis: Sakhalin (Russia)
• S. e. albifrons: Kamchatka Peninsula, Paramushir Island and northern Kuril Islands
• S. e. amurensis: South-eastern Russia to north-eastern China, Korea and Honshu (northern Japan)
• S. e. roseillia: Southern Japan (south-eastern Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu)
• S. e. bedfordi: Cheju-Do Islands (Korea)
• S. e. sinensis: Central and eastern China and Taiwan
• S. e. nebulosa: Southern China (lowlands of southern Yunnan)

[edit] Habitat

Breeds in mixed and deciduous woods and parkland.

[edit] Behaviour

They travel head-first down trees and are often seen on the underside of branches.

[edit] Breeding

It nests in holes, lined with grass and bark, in old trees. The clutch consists of 5-8 white, red speckled eggs.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects, seeds and nuts. Visits garden feeders in winter. Will store food in the autumn for retrieval in the winter months.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: tui-tui-tui.

[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
3. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6

• List of references

[edit] External Links

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