Sitta canadensis
Silhouette: Alan and Elaine Wilson (Modified) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is a small songbird. The adult has blue-grey upperparts with cinnamon underparts, a white throat and face with a black stripe through the eyes, a straight grey bill and a black crown. Its call, which has been likened to a tin trumpet, is high-pitched and nasal. It breeds in coniferous forests across Canada, Alaska and the northeastern and western United States. Though often a permanent resident, it regularly irrupts further south if its food supply fails. There are records of vagrants occurring as far south as the Gulf Coast and northern Mexico. It forages on the trunks and large branches of trees, often descending head first, sometimes catching insects in flight. It eats mainly insects and seeds, especially from conifers. It excavates its nest in dead wood, often close to the ground, smearing the entrance with pitch.
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red-breasted nuthatch in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Canada. He used the French name Le torchepot de Canada and the Latin Sitta Canadensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names for the species, these usually... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Red-breasted Nuthatch sighting in Anchorage on a given day, based on 2,604 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 17th most-seen of the 138 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and December
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Red-breasted Nuthatch in Anchorage on a given day, against about 20% in June and July, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-breasted Nuthatch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 30
Of the 30 cities where we can rate Red-breasted Nuthatch sightings, Anchorage ranks 4th at about 40%. The best odds are in Edmonton (Canada, about 60%), Calgary (Canada, about 50%) and Portland (United States, about 40%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Red-breasted Nuthatch that you can see in Anchorage (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Black-billed Magpie (about 80%), Black-capped Chickadee (about 60%) and European Starling (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-breasted Nuthatch is recorded against all the birds logged in Anchorage (2,604 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
