THE WORLD BIRDS - An Online Bird Book
SEARCH 

NUTHATCHES

Order Passeriformes    Family Sittidae


This family is comprised of the Nuthatches, genus Sitta, and the Wallcreepers, genus Tichodroma. They breed in cavitites, either tree cavities or rock cavities. The Wallcreeper is an insectivore, which feeds on invertebrates, primarily insects and spiders. Invertebrates are also a major part of the diet for nuthatches, especially during the breeding season, but most species also eat seeds at least during the winter, when invertebrates are less readily available. The nuthatches all store food, usually seeds, which may be pushed into crevices or into the ground, hidden under small bark flakes.


Genus Sitta
Nuthatches usually head down the tree; Creepers usually head up the tree.

Nuthatch,_Algerian  Sitta ledanti  Found: Algeria
The male Algerian Nuthatch has blue-gray upperparts; black crown, eye-line; white supercilium. Female similar with gray crown, eye-line.
Image by: 1) tododu74  2) Werner_Suter


Nuthatch,_Beautiful  Sitta formosa  Found: China, India, southeast Asia
The Beautiful Nuthatch has black and blue upperparts streaked with white; pale blue head; orange underparts.
Image by: 1) John_Gould  2) Balaji_Venkatesh_Sivaramakrishnan 


Nuthatch,_Blue  Sitta azurea  Found: Indosesia, Malaysia
The Blue Nuthatch has dark blue upperparts; whitish throat, breast; dark blue belly; striking white eyes.
Image by: 1) Francesco_Verones - Malaysia   2, 3) Hiyashi_Haka  4) Francesco_Veronesi


Nuthatch,_Brown-headed  Sitta pusilla Found: southeastern USA.
Similar to: Pygmy Nuthatch. Pygmy Nuthatch smaller than Brown-headed Nuthatch. Brown-headed Nuthatch has brown head; Pygmy Nuthatch has gray head,
Image by: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7) Dick Daniels - North Carolina 3) Vickie Deloach - Georgia  4) Jamie_Chavez - Georgia



Nuthatch,_Burmese   Sitta neglecta  Found: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam.
Image by: 1) David_Cook - Cambodia  2, 3) Susan_Meyers - Cambodia
2) Female 3) Male


Nuthatch,_Chestnut-bellied Sitta cinnamoventris  Found: Bhutan, India, Nepal, Tibet
The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch has blue-gray upperparts, crown; black eye-line; white face, chin; chestnut underparts, throat.
Similar to: Indian Nuthatch. The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch has richer underparts than the Indian Nuthatch.
Image by: 1, 4) Koshy_Koshy - India  2) Francesco_Veronesi - Bhutan  3) Dibyendu_Ash - Ghatgarh, Uttarakhand, India 


Nuthatch,_Chestnut-vented  Sitta nagaensis  Found: Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
Image by: 1) totodu74  2, 3) Ron_Knight - Sichuan  4) Jerry_Oldenettel - Vietnam


Nuthatch,_Corsican  Sitta whiteheadi  Found: Corsica (island in Mediterranean)
The male Corsican Nuthatch has blue-gray upperparts; black crown, eye-line; white supercilium;  grayish-buff underparts. Female similar to male but has gray crown, eye-line.
Image by: 1) tododu74  2) John_Gerrard_Keulemans  2)


Nuthatch,_Eurasian  Sitta europaea Found: Europe, Asia
The Eurasian Nuthatch has blue-gray upperparts; black eye-stripe; short tail.white face, chin; light orange underparts.
Similar to: Red-breasted Nuthatch. Range of Eurasian Nuthatch and Red-breasted Nuthatch do not overlap. Both of these Nuthatches have a dark eye-line. There is white above the Red-breasted Nuthatch's eye-line, none above the Eurasian Nuthatch's eye-line.
Image by:  1) Arnstein Ronningn - Norway   2) Pawel Kuzniar  3) Cristiano Crolle - Val Roseg, Switzerland  4) Smudge_9000 - England


Nuthatch,_Giant   Sitta magna  Found: China, Thailand
The Giant Nuthatch is the largest nuthatch. It has gray upperparts; bold black eye-line; white throat, underparts. Male has wider eye-line than female. Female has fainly rufous underpart.
Image by: 1) Joseph_Smit  2) Jerry_Oldenettel - Thailand
1) Female 2) Male


Nuthatch,_Indian Sitta castanea  Found: India, south of the Ganges River.
The Indian Nuthatcn has a frosty crown that is paler than the mantle. It is the only gray-backed, rufous-bellied nuthatch in the peninsula.Sitta castanea also consider to include the Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta cinnamoventris)
Similar to: Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch. The Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch has richer underparts than the Indian Nuthatch.
Image by: 1) Balaji Venkatesh Sivaramakrishnan  2) Cks3976 - Dandeli, India


Nuthatch,_Kashmir     Found: Afghanistan, India, Nepal Pakistan
Image by: 1) L_Shyamal  2) Gaurav_Kataria - Kashmir, India 32) James_Eaton


Nuthatch,_Krüper's  Sitta krueperi  Found: southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia
Image by: 1) Mark Jobling  2) Frank Vassen


Nuthatch,_Persian  also Eastern Rock Nuthatch Sitta tephronota  Found: Asia
Image by: 1, 2, 3) Durzan_Cirano - Turkey  4) Sergey_Yeliseev


Nuthatch,_Przevalski's  Sitta przewalskii  Found: southeastern Tibet, west central China
The Przevalski's Nuthatch has dark gray-bule upperparts; dark blue-black crown; white cheeks, throat; cinnamon underparts. The Przevalski's Nuthatch has been considered a subspecies of the White-cheeked Nuthatch.
Image by: 1) tododu74  2) Chengdong_WANG


Nuthatch,_Pygmy  Sitta pygmaea   Found: west and central North America
Similar to: Brown-headed Nuthatch. Pygmy Nuthatch smaller than Brown-headed Nuthatch. Brown-headed Nuthatch has brown head; Pygmy Nuthatch has gray head,
Image by:   1) Alan D Wilson  2) Dick Daniels - Arizona  3) Len Blumin - Homestead Valley, Mill Valley, CA.


Nuthatch,_Red-breasted Sitta canadensis Found: North America
No other North American Nuthatches have an eye-line.
Similar to: Eurasian Nuthatch. Range of Eurasian Nuthatch and Red-breasted Nuthatch do not overlap. Both of these Nuthatches have a dark eye-line. There is white above the Red-breasted Nuthatch's eye-line, none above the Eurasian Nuthatch's eye-line.
Similar to: White-breasted Nuthatch. White-breasted Nuthatch has white underparts; Red-breasted Nuthatch underparts only have a white throat.
Image by: 1) Cephas - Quebec  2) Jerry Oldenettel - New Mexico  3) Eugene_Beckes  4) Wolfgang_Wander




Nuthatch,_Snowy-browed also Chinese Nuthatch  Sitta villosa  Found: China, North Korea, South Korea
The Snowy-browed Nuthatch has bluish-gray upperparts; buffy to orange-cinnamon underparts. Male has black cap; eye-line; white supercilium; whitish throat, cheeks.. Female has neglible eye-line.
Image by: 1) tododu74  2) Josephe_Huet  3) Gary_Leavens  4) Yann_Muzika


Nuthatch,_Sulphur-billed   Sitta oenochlamys  Found: Philippines
Image by: 1) onnie_espena  2) Francesco_Veronesi - Mindanao


Nuthatch,_Velvet-fronted  Sitta frontalis  Found: Asia
The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch has violet-blue upperparts; lavender cheeks; black patch on forehead; whitish throat; beige underparts; red bill.
Image by: 1) Lip Kee Yap - Kazaringa, Assam, India  2) Andrew_Siani  3) Vimal_Rajyaguru  4) Shrikant_Rao in India


Nuthatch,_Western Rock  also Rock Nuthatch  Sitta neumayer  Found: Europe, Asia
The Western Rock Nuthatch has dark gray upperparts; long black eye-line; white throat; white underparts shading to buff on belly.
Image by: 1, 3) Michael_Sveikutis - Greece  3) Vince_Smith - Turkey


Nuthatch,_White-breasted Sitta carolinensis   Found: North America
Similar to: Red-breasted Nuthatch. White-breasted Nuthatch has white underparts; Red-breasted Nuthatch underparts only have a white throat.
Image by: 1) Johnny Wee - near Fort Rock, Oregon   2) Mdf- Canada  3, 4, 5, 6) Dick Daniels -Ash, North Carolina  7) Mark_Nenadov - Ontario



Nuthatch,_White-browed Sitta victoriae  Found: Myanmar
Image by: 1) James_Eaton  2) Michelle_and_Peter_Wong


Nuthatch,_White-cheeked  Sitta leucopsis  Found: Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan
The Przevalski's Nuthatch has been considered a subspecies of the White-cheeked Nuthatch.
Image by: 1, 2, 3) Imran_Shah - Pakistan


Nuthatch,_White-tailed  Sitta himalayensis  Found: northern and northeastern parts of the Indian Subcontinent
The White-tailed Nuthatch has rufous underparts; white on upper-tail coverts hard to see.
Image by: 1) Ron_Knight  2) Dibyendu_Ash - India  3) Shrikant_Rao in India  4) Francesco_Verones


Nuthatch,_Yellow-billed   Sitta solangiae  Found: Chin, Laos, Vietnam
Image by: 1) L_Shyamal  2) John_and_Jemi_Holmes - China


Nuthatch,_Yunnan Sitta yunnanensis  Found: southwest China
The Yunnan Nuthatch has blue-gray upperparts; bolc black eye-line; thin white supercilium.
Image by: 1) tododu74  2) Bernd_Kirschner  3) Soma_Jha




Family Tichodromidae

Genus Tichodroma - 1 species

Wallcreeper   Tichodroma muraria   Found: Asia
The Wallcreeper has mainly grayish plumage; crimson wings; long thin bill.
Some place the Wallcreeper in its own family or with the treecreeprs of family .
Image by: 1, 2) Imran_Shah - Pakistan 3) Hämbörger 4) Ján Svetlík




TREECREEPERs

Order Passeriformes    Family Certhiidae


The treecreepers are widespread in wooded regions of the Northern Hemisphere and sub-Saharan Africa. Their plumage is dull-coloured, and as their name implies, they climb over the surface of trees in search of food. All species of treecreeper are found in forest and woodland habitats. Treecreepers measure from 12 to 18 centimetres in length. Their bills are gently down-curved and rather long, used for probing bark for insects and spiders. They often climb up tree trunks in a helical path, hopping with their feet together; their toes are long and tipped with strongly curved claws for gripping. The longer tails of the Certhia treecreepers are stiffened to use as a prop while climbing, but those of the Spotted Creeper are shorter and not stiffened. The majority of their diet is composed of small invertebrates, including insects and their larvae, spiders, and pseudoscorpions. In hard times seeds and fruits may be taken, and a few species will also visit birdfeeders.


Genus Certhia

Creepers usually head up the tree; Nuthatches usually head down the tree.

Treecreeper,_Bar-tailed  also Himalayan Tree Creeper  Certhia himalayana  Found: northern parts Indian subcontinent
The Bar-tailed Treecreeper has a flecked or striped feather pattern, usually in black, brown, white and red hues.
Image by: 1) Chandu Bandi  2) JM Garg - India  3) Imran_Shah - Pakistan  4) Allan Hopkins - India
1) Juvenile


Creeper, Brown Certhia americana   Found: North America
Image by: 1) Alan Vernon - Alaska   2) Alan D Wilson - British Columbia   3) Martha McClintock  4) Dick Daniels - New Hampshire
1, 2) Birds were heading up the tree, thumbnails rotated  to produce larger image.


Treecreeper,_Common also Eurasian Treecreeper  Certhia familiaris  Found: Europe, Asia
The Common Treecreeper has a curved bil;, patterned brown upperparts; whitish supercilium,underparts; long stiff tail feathers which help it creep up tree trunk.s
Image by: 1) Pawel Kuzniar  2) Charlie Westerinen - Warsaw, Poland


Treecreeper,_Hodgson's  Certhia hodgsoni   Found: southern Asia
The Hodgson's Treecreeper has patterned brown upperparts; off-white supercilium, underparts.
Image by: 1) JM Garg - India  2) Jon Irvine - Bhutan


Treecreeper,_Humes  Certhia manipurensis Found: southeast Asia
Image by: 1) lonelyshrimip


Treecreeper,_Rusty-flanked  Certhia nipalensis  Found: Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal
Image by: 1) Subramanya - West Bengal   2) Gauray Bhatnagar


Treecreeper,_Short-toed  Certhia brachydactyla  Found: Europe, Asia
Image by: 1, 4) Jimfbleak  2) Agustin_Povedano - Spain  3) Aleph 



Treecreeper,_Sichuan  Certhia tianquanensis  Found: old growth forests of Faber's fir in mountains of Sichuan, China
Image by: 1) Ron Knight - Wawu Shan, Sichuan


Treecreeper,_Sikkim also Brown-throated Treecreeper  Certhia discolor   Found: Asia
Image by: 1) JJ Harrison - Thailand  2) Francesco Veronesi - Bhutan



Genus Salpornis
These creepers, unlike the treecreepers, do not use their tails while climbing. They weigh twice as much as treecreepers of similar length

Creeper, African Spotted-  Salpornis salvadori  Found: Africa
The African Spotted-Creeper is strongly barred and spotted. It has a thin pointed down-curved bill; dark eye-line.
Image by: 1) Graham Ekins - Zimbabwe


Creeper, Indian Spotted-  Salpornis spilonotus  Found: northern Indian subcontinent
The Indian Spotted-Creeper has gray and white spotteed and barred plumage. It has a thin pointed down-curved bill; dark eye-line.
Image by: 1) John Gerrard Keulemans  2) Sumeet Moghe    3)Nigel Voaden





Australasian TREECREEPERs

Order Passeriformes    Family Climacteridae


The Australasian Treecreepers are not closely related to the Holarctic Treecreepers of family Certhiidae, but they do resemble each other because of convergent evolution. Their plumage is dull-coloured, and as their name implies, they climb over the surface of trees in search of food. Unlike the Holarctic treecreepers, they do not use their tail for support when climbing tree trunks, only their feet. They are found in Australasia.


Genus Climacteris

Treecreeper,_Black-tailed   Climacteris melanurus   Found: north and northwestern Australia
Image by:  1, 2) Brian_McCauley


Treecreeper,_Brown   Climacteris picumnus   Found: Australia
The Brown Treecreeper has gray-brown upperparts; light gray face, neck; darker gray crown; dark eye-line; pale throat; pale brown breast; streaked lower breast, flanks.
Image by:  1) Laurie_Boyle  2) David Cook - Victoria, Australia 3) Avicida - Bowra, SW Queensland, Australia  4) Oystercatcher


Treecreeper,_Red-browed Climacteris erythrops Found: Australia
The Red-browed Treecreeper has dark brown back; red supercilium.
Image by:1) MDE kool  2) Tom Tarrant


Treecreeper,_Rufous  Climacteris rufus  Found: Australia
The Rufous Treecreeper has brown back; gray head; rufous face, breast. Male has  dark streaks on breast; female has pale streaks.
Image by: 1, 2) Brian_McCauley
1) Female  2) Male


Treecreeper,_White-browed  Climacteris affinis  Found: Australia
The White-browed Treecreeper has long white supercilium; black and white streaks on face, uunderparts.
Image by: 1) Brian_McCauley  2) Tom Tarrant - Queensland  3) Peter_Jacobs 



Genus Cormobates

Treecreeper,_Papuan  Cormobates placens  Found: New Guinea
The Papuan Treecreeper has been considered a subspecies of the White-throated Treecreeper.
Image by: 1) John_Gould


Treecreeper,_White-throated  Cormobates leucophaea  Found: Australia
The White-throated Treecreeper has brown upperparts; white throat, upper-breast; brown flanks with white spots. Female has pale orange-brown patch on cheek.
Image by:1, 2, 3)  David Cook 
1) Female  2, 3) Male




Back to Top