Sitta europaea
Silhouette: robin_24 · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sapporo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 4 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 5 | Munich | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 7 | Stockholm | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 8 | Sofia | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | |
| 9 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Turin | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Nuthatch sighting in Madrid on a given day, based on 1,004 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 55th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September to June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Nuthatch in Madrid on a given day, against under 5% in July and August, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eurasian 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.
34th of 48
Of the 48 cities where we can rate Eurasian Nuthatch sightings, Madrid ranks 34th at about 10%. The best odds are in Sapporo (Japan, about 60%), Yekaterinburg (Russia, about 60%) and Vienna (Austria, about 50%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Eurasian Nuthatch that you can see in Madrid (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Eurasian Magpie (over 90%), Eurasian Blackbird (about 90%) and House Sparrow (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eurasian Nuthatch is recorded against all the birds logged in Madrid (1,004 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.
