General

Brown-headed Nuthatch: Medium-sized nuthatch with gray upperparts, brown cap, small, white nape patch, dark eye-line, white face, and buff underparts. Wings and tail are gray. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Brown-headed Nuthatch: Resident in much of the southeastern U.S. Preferred habitats include coniferous and mixed forests.

Breeding and Nesting

Brown-headed Nuthatch: Three to nine white eggs with red brown speckles are laid in a cavity nest made of soft bark shreds, wood chips, grass, wool, hair, and feathers, and built from 2 to 12 feet above the ground in a dead or live tree, bird box, stump, or old post. Female incubates eggs for about 14 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Brown-headed Nuthatch: Eats pine seeds, insects, and spiders. Forages over, around, and up and down branches, small twigs, and trunks, sometimes hanging upside down; caches seeds.

Readily Eats

Nut Meats, Sunflower Seed, Sunflower Seeds (hulled)

Vocalization

Brown-headed Nuthatch: Song is "pri-u, de-u, de-u", like a squeaky toy. Call is a squeaky "bit-bit-bit" or "dee-dee-dee."

Similar Species

Brown-headed Nuthatch: White-breasted Nuthatch is larger and has black cap. Red-breasted Nuthatch has black cap and eyestripe and rust-brown underparts.