Nuthatch ID Help? (1 Viewer)

[MadamLibrarian]

I just saw a bird that is the exact shape and size of a white breasted nuthatch but the whole bird is a medium brown color. I am located in Nassau County on Long Island in a suburb of New York City. Any thoughts? -Madam Librarian

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

A description of habitat, what is was doing, how it was moving etc. would help to pin an id on it.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[MadamLibrarian]

Dear Andy,
Well, it's my back yard. There are two feeders with Duncraft's Super No-Waste seed and one thistle feeder. I didn't actually see him feed. He alighted on the shed (from which the feeders hang) then flew to the ground, the flew to the fence and took off. He was so strikingly the shape and size of a nuthatch and I get a lot of white breasted nuthatches...but I don't see anything like him in my Field Gde to N. American Birds and haven't found him yet on the Internet. Any ideas? Thanks! - Madam Librarian

 

[LordPomposity]

Brown Creeper? A Wren on some type?

 

[cavan wood]

Brown Creeper? A Wren on some type?

I was thinking brown creeper too, but the behaviour sound more like a wren, as you've suggested.

Scott

 

[Thayeri]

Sounds just like a Winter Wren to me. Does the bird in this link look familiar?

http://www2.una.edu/biology/Haggerty/AOS Slide Collection/Winter Wren.JPG

 

[MadamLibrarian]

It didn't look like the winter wren in the link at all. I looked on Google images at the brown creepers. The bird I saw had the stripes on the head but his body was monochromatic -- not speckled like the ones in the photos. What's next? - Madam Librarian

 

[MadamLibrarian]

Did a little more on Google images and Internet surfing. Could it just have been a house wren? I didn't really see his belly but the house wren looks the closest. - Madam Librarian

 

[prairiemerlin]

Hello,

It is very unlikely that it was a House Wren, since all House Wrens migrate away and come back in mid-April at the earliest. Have you looked at any photos of Carolina Wrens?

 

[Terry O'Nolley]

This is a tough description. But if it appeared the same size and shape as a White-breasted Nuthatch, and was a uniform brown color and had Brown-creeper like streaking on the head (assumedly a white eye-stripe) then I would suggest a Carolina Wren.

 

[MadamLibrarian]

Dear Neil and Terry, I didn't get to see his breast but the back and head looked like the carolina wren photos on google. I'd never seen one before or have since. Was he migrating alone? What could be his story? Thanks for your help. - Madam Librarian

 

[AlexC]

Dear Neil and Terry, I didn't get to see his breast but the back and head looked like the carolina wren photos on google. I'd never seen one before or have since. Was he migrating alone? What could be his story? Thanks for your help. - Madam Librarian

Carolina Wrens can be found year-round in the eastern half of the US as far north as Massachusetts, so according to the map, it doesn't look like they migrate. My experience with Carolina Wrens has been in small numbers - 1 or maybe 2 at a time.