Red-breasted Nuthatches are one of the few songbirds that smear sticky tree resin around their nest cavity entrance — a defense that may keep predators from climbing in.
They're 'irruptive': in years when northern conifer cones fail, hundreds of thousands move south, sometimes appearing in states where they're absent in normal years.
Their nasal 'yank-yank' call has been compared to a tiny tin trumpet and carries a remarkable distance through dense forest.
If you live in conifer country or experience an irruption year, Red-breasted Nuthatches will visit feeders readily.
Black-oil sunflower, suet, and especially peanut butter or peanut pieces. They cache extensively at feeders.
Mount a 1¼" box 8–20 ft up on a conifer trunk for the best chance.
Plant native conifers — spruce, pine, fir, hemlock — to make your yard suitable in any season.
Shallow bath; not picky.
Same hole size as chickadees and titmice. Multiple boxes help.
Don't expect them in irruption-only regions every year — their movements are unpredictable.
A bird of the boreal and coniferous forest belt, from Alaska to Newfoundland and south through the western mountains. Irruptive movements bring them far south in some winters.
Common across the boreal forest belt from interior Alaska east to Newfoundland.
Resident throughout New England, the Great Lakes, the northern Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest.
Year-round in coniferous forests of the Rockies, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada down through Arizona and New Mexico.
In irruption years, can show up at feeders as far south as Florida and Texas.
Coniferous and mixed conifer-hardwood forest. Spruce, fir, hemlock, and pine forests are favored; suburban yards with conifers attract them in irruption years.
Body sized to 4"×4" floor. The 1⅛" panel locks out larger nest competitors while letting the Red-breasted Nuthatch pass cleanly.
See the full lineupSmears sap around the entrance hole — don't be alarmed; it's a deterrent against predators.