Eurasian Nuthatch Identification Guide

The Eurasian Nuthatch has a blue head, white cheeks, and a black eye stripe.

Its beak is pointed and strong.

The upper part of its body is slate-blue.

The underside is orange to brown.

It has a short tail.

Its legs have curved nails like claws at the tips to easily cling.

It is the size of a sparrow.

All year round, its call "tuit tuit tuit" can be heard.

The song of the Eurasian Nuthatch is a whistled rhythm "tuituituitui" or "tiutiutiu" slow or fast, sometimes with trills.

Here, a slow whistled song "tuituitui" ...

Here, a slow whistled song "tiutiutiu" ...

and here, a fast whistled song!

The Eurasian Nuthatch is often seen clinging to a trunk head down.

It also moves along the underside of branches.

It descends a trunk in a diagonal or zigzag pattern.

One toe curved upward supports the weight of its body when it is head down.

It is not very sociable and often lives in pairs all year round, defending its territory against others.

Sometimes it can be heard hammering on the shells of nuts.

It produces one brood per year of 5 to 8 white eggs speckled with brown.

It nests in tree holes, woodpecker holes, and nest boxes.

Its nest is lined with bark.

It can enlarge the entrance of a tree hole with its beak.

or conversely reduce it with mud around the edges to keep out competitors.

Hence its name "torchepot": making a clay wall around the pot (the woodpecker hole or nest box).

The Eurasian Nuthatch feeds on insects and seeds.

It stores food reserves under the bark.

It hunts insects by searching in bark, branches, and leaves.

Sometimes it searches for food on the ground.

At the feeder, it is aggressive and takes several seeds at once.

The Eurasian Nuthatch lives in deciduous forests, mixed forests, and parks and gardens.

It prefers old forests where it can find old trees to nest in.

It is a sedentary species.

Faithful to its territory, it easily finds its food caches.