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Eurasian nuthatch
The Eurasian nuthatch, wood nuthatch (Sitta europaea), or simply nuthatch, is a small passerine bird found throughout the Palearctic and in Europe. Like other nuthatches, it is a short-tailed bird with a long bill, blue-gray upperparts and a black eye-stripe. It is a vocal bird with a repeated loud dwip call. There are more than 20 subspecies in three main groups; birds in the west of the range have orange-buff underparts and a white throat, those in Russia have whitish underparts, and those in the east have a similar appearance to European birds, but lack the white throat.
Its preferred habitat is mature deciduous or mixed woodland with large, old trees, preferably oak. Pairs hold permanent territories, and nest in tree holes, usually old woodpecker nests, but sometimes natural cavities. If the entrance to the hole is too large, the female plasters it with mud to reduce its size, and often coats the inside of the cavity too. The six to nine red-speckled white eggs are laid on a deep base of pine or other wood chips.
The Eurasian nuthatch eats mainly insects, particularly caterpillars and beetles, although in autumn and winter its diet is supplemented with nuts and seeds. The young are fed mainly on insects, with some seeds, food items mainly being found on tree trunks and large branches. The nuthatch can forage when descending trees head first, as well as when climbing. It readily visits bird tables, eating fatty man-made food items as well as seeds. It is an inveterate hoarder, storing food year-round. Its main natural predator is the Eurasian sparrowhawk.
Fragmentation of woodland can lead to local losses of breeding birds, but the species's range is still expanding. It has a large population and huge breeding area, and is therefore classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as being of least concern.
The nuthatches are a family of similar-looking birds with short tails and wings, compact bodies and longish pointed bills. They have grey or bluish upperparts, a black eyestripe and strong feet. All are in the single genus Sitta. Within the genus, the Eurasian nuthatch forms a superspecies with the chestnut-vented, Indian, chestnut-bellied and Kashmir nuthatches and has in the past been considered conspecific with all of these.
The Eurasian nuthatch was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name. Sitta is derived from the Ancient Greek name for this bird, σίττη, sittē, and the species name, europaea, is Latin for "European". "Nuthatch", first recorded in 1350, is derived from "nut" and a word probably related to "hack", since these birds hack at nuts they have wedged into crevices.
In 2014, Eric Pasquet and colleagues published a phylogeny based on examination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of 21 nuthatch species. The group europaea is related to the two nuthatches of rocky environments, the Western rock nuthatch (S. neumayer) and the Eastern rock nuthatch (S. tephronota), and these two clades diverge from each other by thirteen million years. Within the group europaea, the white-tailed nuthatch (S. himalayensis)—and consequently the white-browed nuthatch (S. victoriae), although not included in the study—appears to be basal, and the Eurasian nuthatch is closely related to the chestnut-vented nuthatch (S. nagaensis) and the Kashmir nuthatch (S. cashmirensis). The Indian Nuthatch (S. castanea), the Beautiful nuthatch (S. cinnamoventris), the Burmese nuthatch (S. neglecta), and the Siberian nuthatch (S. arctica) are not included in the study. All the species of the group "europaea" masonry the entrance to their nests. In 2020, a new phylogeny will appear, covering the genus more exhaustively; it includes, in particular, the four species mentioned above. It uses three mitochondrial genes and two nuclear ones. The three species from the south of the Asian continent (Indian, Beautiful and Burmese nuthatches) are related to the Kashmir nuthatch, but surprisingly, the Siberian nuthatch is located on a clean branch, quite distant from the Eurasian nuthatch, from which it was nevertheless long considered a subspecies.
The study by Päckert and colleagues (2020) also includes a fairly exhaustive sampling of the Eurasian nuthatch subspecies. It highlights three large groups of subspecies, not perfectly overlapping with the traditionally distinguished groups on the basis of the coloring of their lower parts. A first group concerns the "European nuthatch", which includes all the European subspecies, whether buff-bellied or white-bellied, as well as the subspecies of the Near East. It is related to the group of the "Asian Nuthatch", including the subspecies inhabiting the northern part of the Asian continent, from Kazakhstan to Korea and Japan, all white-bellied. Finally, a third group of subspecies, the "Eastern nuthatch," includes the Asian subspecies living further south, in North and East China and in Taiwan.
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Eurasian nuthatch
The Eurasian nuthatch, wood nuthatch (Sitta europaea), or simply nuthatch, is a small passerine bird found throughout the Palearctic and in Europe. Like other nuthatches, it is a short-tailed bird with a long bill, blue-gray upperparts and a black eye-stripe. It is a vocal bird with a repeated loud dwip call. There are more than 20 subspecies in three main groups; birds in the west of the range have orange-buff underparts and a white throat, those in Russia have whitish underparts, and those in the east have a similar appearance to European birds, but lack the white throat.
Its preferred habitat is mature deciduous or mixed woodland with large, old trees, preferably oak. Pairs hold permanent territories, and nest in tree holes, usually old woodpecker nests, but sometimes natural cavities. If the entrance to the hole is too large, the female plasters it with mud to reduce its size, and often coats the inside of the cavity too. The six to nine red-speckled white eggs are laid on a deep base of pine or other wood chips.
The Eurasian nuthatch eats mainly insects, particularly caterpillars and beetles, although in autumn and winter its diet is supplemented with nuts and seeds. The young are fed mainly on insects, with some seeds, food items mainly being found on tree trunks and large branches. The nuthatch can forage when descending trees head first, as well as when climbing. It readily visits bird tables, eating fatty man-made food items as well as seeds. It is an inveterate hoarder, storing food year-round. Its main natural predator is the Eurasian sparrowhawk.
Fragmentation of woodland can lead to local losses of breeding birds, but the species's range is still expanding. It has a large population and huge breeding area, and is therefore classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as being of least concern.
The nuthatches are a family of similar-looking birds with short tails and wings, compact bodies and longish pointed bills. They have grey or bluish upperparts, a black eyestripe and strong feet. All are in the single genus Sitta. Within the genus, the Eurasian nuthatch forms a superspecies with the chestnut-vented, Indian, chestnut-bellied and Kashmir nuthatches and has in the past been considered conspecific with all of these.
The Eurasian nuthatch was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name. Sitta is derived from the Ancient Greek name for this bird, σίττη, sittē, and the species name, europaea, is Latin for "European". "Nuthatch", first recorded in 1350, is derived from "nut" and a word probably related to "hack", since these birds hack at nuts they have wedged into crevices.
In 2014, Eric Pasquet and colleagues published a phylogeny based on examination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of 21 nuthatch species. The group europaea is related to the two nuthatches of rocky environments, the Western rock nuthatch (S. neumayer) and the Eastern rock nuthatch (S. tephronota), and these two clades diverge from each other by thirteen million years. Within the group europaea, the white-tailed nuthatch (S. himalayensis)—and consequently the white-browed nuthatch (S. victoriae), although not included in the study—appears to be basal, and the Eurasian nuthatch is closely related to the chestnut-vented nuthatch (S. nagaensis) and the Kashmir nuthatch (S. cashmirensis). The Indian Nuthatch (S. castanea), the Beautiful nuthatch (S. cinnamoventris), the Burmese nuthatch (S. neglecta), and the Siberian nuthatch (S. arctica) are not included in the study. All the species of the group "europaea" masonry the entrance to their nests. In 2020, a new phylogeny will appear, covering the genus more exhaustively; it includes, in particular, the four species mentioned above. It uses three mitochondrial genes and two nuclear ones. The three species from the south of the Asian continent (Indian, Beautiful and Burmese nuthatches) are related to the Kashmir nuthatch, but surprisingly, the Siberian nuthatch is located on a clean branch, quite distant from the Eurasian nuthatch, from which it was nevertheless long considered a subspecies.
The study by Päckert and colleagues (2020) also includes a fairly exhaustive sampling of the Eurasian nuthatch subspecies. It highlights three large groups of subspecies, not perfectly overlapping with the traditionally distinguished groups on the basis of the coloring of their lower parts. A first group concerns the "European nuthatch", which includes all the European subspecies, whether buff-bellied or white-bellied, as well as the subspecies of the Near East. It is related to the group of the "Asian Nuthatch", including the subspecies inhabiting the northern part of the Asian continent, from Kazakhstan to Korea and Japan, all white-bellied. Finally, a third group of subspecies, the "Eastern nuthatch," includes the Asian subspecies living further south, in North and East China and in Taiwan.