The Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) is a compact, stocky bird instantly recognisable for climbing head-first down tree trunks, something few other birds can do. It grows to 14–15 cm long with a 23–27 cm wingspan and weighs about 23 grams, with a large head, short tail, and a long, strong, pointed bill. The upperparts are pale blue-grey, the face white, the underside paler in white or orange-buff — slightly paler on the female — with a black stripe running through the eye, and its strong feet let it grip and climb in any direction, including upside down.
Its calls are loud and varied, including a clear, high, whistled "tsjuit-tsjuit" and ringing trills that carry far, especially in late winter and spring; its persistent, ringing spring song from a high trunk is one of the first signs of spring in deciduous woodland, heard as early as February. Found throughout Sweden except the mountain region, with a population estimated at around 264,000 pairs in 2018, the Nuthatch is tied to older deciduous trees in woodland, parks and gardens. It nests in cavities — old woodpecker holes, natural tree holes or nest boxes — and if the entrance is too large it plasters it with mud until the hole fits, a behaviour that keeps out larger competitors; the female lays 6–9 eggs, incubates about two weeks, and both parents feed the young, which fledge after just over three weeks. In summer it feeds mainly on insects and spiders, switching to nuts and seeds in winter, wedging hard seeds into bark crevices to hack them open and hoarding thousands of caches in bark and lichen that it remembers and revisits — a key adaptation for a bird that never migrates.
Read about this species in Swedish →