General Description: Red-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta canadensis) are small birds with a dark, blue-gray back, red underparts, and a black cap with bold white eyelines. The face and throat are white. The bill is long, straight, and heavy for such a small bird, with a slight upturned appearance at the tip. For such little birds, these guys have a big voice.

Taxonomy: Passeriformes, Sittidae, Sittinae.

Favored Habitat: Higher-elevation forests.

Where to Find: Higher elevation areas from about the Yellow-Pine Life Zone up to treeline. Around Las Vegas, look for these birds up on Mt. Charleston and in the Sheep Range. In the fall of 2012, Red-breasted Nuthatches erupted and were found in many unusual places, including throughout southern Nevada

Comments: Nuthatches forage on tree trunks and branches, walking up, down, and around looking for bugs behind flakes of bark. They often forage in large, noisy flocks during summer, and in smaller, mixed flocks during winter.