Pygmy nuthatch looks similar to the white breasted nuthatch

Pygmy nuthatch main, White-breasted nuthatch inset.

There are four species of nuthatch present in North America; the brown-headed nuthatch is the only one whose range does not include Canada.  The pygmy nuthatch, shown above, is a permanent resident wherever it lives - in Canada, that is only in southern British Columbia.  I have seen them a couple of times.  I photographed this one on Wednesday, March 29, in Kelowna BC.

Not all pygmy nuthatches have a black stripe through the eye like the one above - the image below shows one without that mask.  Both birds were photographed in BC.

Pygmy nuthatch photographed in Swan Lake, BC, in 2020.  Notice there is no eye stripe.

These social little birds are strongly associated with pine trees, especially ponderosa pine.  They feed on insects gleaned from the trees they forage on and consume a variety of seeds.  They store seeds in small caches under pieces of loose bark which they will access later.  If you look at the first photo, you can see that the bird has just extracted a seed from a crack in the truck.  I got several photos of it, this one was the best showing the recovered prize.  I don't know if this was just a lucky find or if the bird was returning to claim what was previously stored.

Nuthatches will also forage on the ground.  I photographed the red-breasted nuthatch below in 2016.  I remember finding it picking through leaf litter on the ground.

Red-breasted nuthatch foraging on the ground.

I have been fortunate to have photographed all the Canadian species of nuthatch.  They are all wonderful little birds.  I love the sounds a group of nuthatches make as they forage through a clump of trees.  I smile whenever I hear them.

Thanks for reading.  

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com