Brown-headed Nuthatch

Physical Description
Distribution & Habitat
Diet
Pair Formation & Territoriality
Nesting Behavior
Winter Movement & Dispersal
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The Brown-headed Nuthatch is smaller in size than both the White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatch. True to its name, this sprightly bird has a warm, brown cap, bordered by a narrow, black eye line. In winter and spring, the cap is mottled brown and gray. The cheek and chin are white, and the underparts are buff. The back is blue gray, and at the nape of the neck a pale spot is visible at close range.

Males and females look alike. Juveniles resemble the adults except juveniles have less contrast between the upper- and underparts. The cap is grayish and the back and flanks are brownish. The spot at the nape is less conspicuous or absent, and the upper-wing coverts and secondaries have buff edges.

Distribution and Breeding Habitat
The Brown-headed Nuthatch is confined to the mid- and southeastern United States and is quite distinctly separated from its western counterpart, the Pygmy Nuthatch, by range.

It breeds as far north as southern Delaware, as far west as eastern Texas, and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, but it is absent from the coastal and peninsular region of Florida. It is relatively common throughout most of its range.

Brown-headed Nuthatches favor open stands of pine, mixed pine-hardwood forests, and edges of pine woodlands. They often nest in clearings scattered with dead or decaying trees, along forest edges, or in burned areas; occasionally, they are found in cypress swamps. They are rarely found at higher elevations.

Diet

Like all nuthatches, Brown-headed Nuthatches are acrobatic foragers, hopping and hitching along the branches of trees, often upside down. They forage mostly at the tips of treetops and near the tips of branches, looking for insects, spiders, and larvae hidden within the clusters of pine needles. In winter, their diet consists mainly of pine seeds. These nuthatches do not cache large quantities of food, but they may store some seeds under the bark of pine trees.

The Brown-headed Nuthatch is uniquely talented. It is the only North American bird observed to regularly use a tool while foraging. Grasping a piece of bark in its bill, the Brown-headed Nuthatch pries up tree bark to expose prey hidden underneath. The nuthatch usually drops the tool after one use, but sometimes it will the same tool repeatedly and carry it other trees.

Pair Formation and Territoriality

Brown-headed Nuthatches are monogamous, and some pairs remain permanently mated. Twenty percent of breeding pairs also have a "helper" who assists them at the nest. Helpers are usually yearling males that are related to one of the breeding adults.

Brown-headed Nuthatches maintain territories throughout the year; defense is limited to an area surrounding the nest cavity. They defend their territories against conspecifics and can be very hostile to other species of nuthatches that enter their territory. Pairs with helpers may have larger territories, and territories of nonbreeding pairs and pairs with helpers tend to overlap with the territories of neighboring pairs.

In the fall and winter, territorial boundaries relax, and this social bird is often seen foraging and chattering in same-species or mixed-species groups, sometimes containing as many as 24 individuals.

Nesting Behavior
Nest Building:The breeding season begins in early March in the southern portion of the Brown-headed Nuthatch’s range and in early April in the northern portion. Nests are in natural cavities: hollow branches, fire-blackened stumps, decaying pine snags, abandoned woodpecker holes. Brown-headed Nuthatches will also nest in nest boxes.

A large part of nest building is excavation. Both sexes work to excavate, and several holes may be started before the pair finally chooses one. The process can take one to six weeks to finish. Nests have been found as high as 50 ft (15.2 m), but most nests are not higher than 10 ft (3 m) from the ground.

The cavity is first filled with various materials: husks of pine seeds, bark strips, wood chips, rootlets, grasses, and pine needles. A cup is formed and then lined with soft materials such as hair, wool, feathers, and cotton. The helper, if present, assists the pair in nest construction.

Some Brown-headed Nuthatches "caulk" or weatherproof their nest cavities by stuffing the cracks and crevices with pieces of cotton or plant down. Not every pair performs this ritual, and, in general, Brown-headed Nuthatches do not caulk their cavities as extensively as Pygmy Nuthatches do.

Egg Laying: One egg is laid per day. Clutches can contain from three to nine eggs, but the average clutch size is five to six eggs, which are non-glossy, creamy or white, oval or short oval. The shell is smooth. Eggs are heavily and boldly marked with reddish brown spots and blotches with heavier markings at the larger end of the egg.

Incubation: The female incubates her clutch for 14 days. During this time she may be fed, on and off the nest, by the male and the helper.

Nestling Care: The female broods the nestlings for the first few days after hatching. The nestlings are fed soft-bodied insects, and both parents care for the young. The helper also assists in feeding the brood and keeping the nest clean. After 18 to 19 days, the young leave the nest but remain dependent on the parents for another 24 to 26 days.

Brown-headed Nuthatches rarely have a second brood in one season, but they will lay a replacement clutch if a first nest attempt fails.

Winter Movement and Dispersal
Brown-headed Nuthatches are winter residents. There is very little post-breeding dispersal in this species; once an individual establishes a breeding territory with a mate, it remains on that territory for many years, sometimes for its entire life.

There is no information on juvenile dispersal, but fledglings remain with their parents throughout the fall and winter. Family flocks may join and forage with other families or with mixed-species flocks containing woodpeckers, kinglets, titmice, and warblers.