It’s interesting that while north Georgia is at the northern end of the range of this small bird, I only recall seeing it visit us during the winter. Either it’s attracted to our feeders during the winter due to reduced forage in the winter, or I’m just missing it. I’ve really enjoyed the visits.
Brown-headed Nuthatch - Sitta pusilla
The Brown-headed Nuthatch – Sitta pusilla – is quite small, especially compared to the other nuthatch we see regularly – the whitebreasted nuthatch. Here is a photo of the Brown-headed on a feeder with a Chickadee for size comparison.
- Brown-headed Nuthatch with Chickadee
In this pair of photos you can see that the nuthatch is not intimidated by the much larger cardinal, which clearly did not want to share the feeder with the nuthatch.
Brown-headed Nuthatch with Cardinal
Brown-headed Nuthatch and Cardinal
My brown-headed nuthatches bully the red bellied woodpeckers away from their favorite snag. It’s amusing to watch the little guys take on those big birds.