Small birds with big heads, short tails and strong bills and feet, mostly blue-grey above with a black eye stripe. Most live in woods of the Northern Hemisphere and nest in holes; the name comes from wedging nuts in cracks and hacking them open.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inEurope, Asia, North America, Africa
HabitatForest
ColoursBlue, Grey, Orange
SizeTiny
LengthAbout 10 cm to 19.5 cm
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives inpairs
Lives for3–10 years
Can fly
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Woods of North America, Europe and Asia, with a few in North Africa (Algeria and Morocco).
- What it eats
- Mainly insects such as caterpillars and beetles, plus nuts and seeds in autumn and winter.
Did you know
Climbs down tree trunks head first, and plasters its nest hole with mud to make it smaller.
If a nest hole is too big, the female Eurasian nuthatch plasters it with mud to shrink it.
The Eurasian nuthatch stores food all year round.
Often confused with
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