Nuthatches are active, agile little birds with an appetite for insects and large, meaty seeds. They get their common name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside. White-breasted Nuthatches may be small but their voices are loud, and often their insistent nasal yammering will lead you right to them.

• Nuthatches prefer to reside in open, mature pine trees.
  
  
• Their diet  switches from insects and spiders in the  summer to sunflower  seeds and suet  in the  winter.
  
  
• In its search for insects nuthatches will use  “tools” such  as bark  to pry off larger pieces of bark.
  
  
• They will often  store  seeds for retrieval  later  in the  same day or as a quick  source of food for the  next morning.
  
  
• Nuthatches are often  observed creeping headfirst down tree  trunks and poles.
  
  
• Nuthatches roost in a communal group which  may contain up to 100  birds.
  
  
• They can stay in their roost cavity for up to 40 hours without feeding. This enables them to survive winter storms.