Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: White-breasted Nuthatch

Yank-yank-yank!

Those are sounds directly attributed to the unusual White-breasted Nuthatch, a boisterous little songbird.

Common in mature deciduous forests, orchards, wood lots, and mixed woods of much of the continent, they are often in mixed flocks of other little songbirds feeding upon insects and seeds found within bark.  They like stands with decaying trees for appropriate nest cavities and will even nest under bark.  The species will climb up and down the trunk or main limbs backward, which is attributed to the nuthatch clan.

These personable birds use the tools that they are given to the best of their ability.  They often wedge seeds in bark crevices to hold them steady, while that sharp little bill goes to work opening their treasure.

                                                      Eastern White-breasted Nuthatch
                                                           Boomer Lake Park, 2015

All three populations of the US--the Eastern, Pacific, and Interior West--have slightly different dialects, just like many of us do, depending upon what part of the country we hail from.  The Eastern's call is low and a hoarse nasal variety, Pacific is highest pitched and thinly nasal, while the Interior West is also high, shorter and rapid.  There is also a thinly veiled subspecies within the Interior West version, from the Sierra Nevada and Northern Rocky Mountain region.  Its song and calls are the highest pitched with the rapid pattern.

Our birds in Oklahoma are the Eastern subspecies, and they are more often found in the eastern portion of the state.  In the western half, they are restricted by necessity to riparian corridors, which is only in local areas.

Knotholes are often used as entrances to their cavities, while the nest is lined with hair, bark strips, and other softer materials.  Most cavities are at least fifteen feet high, but I have seen a low, rotted stump used.

These single brooders incubate in the neighborhood of twelve days, and they begin nesting sometimes in February, through the month of March.

Though the pair winters apart, the male sings in winter to attract the female, and they keep in touch throughout the day.  The female builds the nest, and both sexes raise the young.

What other birds were around on the same day I photographed the White-breasted Nuthatch?

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2015/06/pre-summer-fun-in-sun.html