Whether foraging atop trees or nesting in low snags, brown-headed nuthatches are often chattering with one another in the mature pine forests of the southeastern United States.
“It’s a coordinated back-and-forth between group members until they come across a group of neighboring nuthatches. Then all hell breaks loose as they defend their space against the other group,” says Jim Cox, a biologist at Tall Timbers, a research station and land conservancy in Tallahassee, Florida.
Early Nesters
These year-round residents mate for life, and start building cavity nests in early February while snakes are hibernating, Jim says. “They’re easy prey for snakes, which basically shimmy up the tree and take the young and sometimes the female.”
Both sexes look for a dead tree or snag, typically a pine but sometimes a deciduous tree or fence…
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Birds & Blooms (Digital) - 1 Issue, December/January 2025