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Red-breasted Nuthatch : Red-breasted Nuthatch (Qaneksuartuli) You're scratching your head? Never heard this Yupik bird name? Well, that's because it's my invention. If you've ever listened to this little bird talk, though, you'd swear it was murmuring -- which, to the best of my knowledge, is what qaneksuartuli means, i.e., the one that murmurs or mumbles. Mind you, you don't see the Red-breasted nuthatch very often in the Y-K Delta. I have only seen two of them, and that was back in the mid-1990's in Marshall. One afternoon while walking down by the old airport, I heard their tell-tale high-pitched nasal ank, ank, ank, ank. Their relative rarity in the Delta might explain why I've never run across a real Yupik name for them. Now that I live near Fairbanks, however, I see these birds fairly often at feeders, and am constantly amazed at how aggressive they are, both with other species and with their own kind. This chickadee-size bird receives its common name from its color and the fact that it often hacks (hatches) open nuts and seeds with its long narrow bill. Its scientific name, Sitta canadensis, means the "Canadian bark pecker." It is curious that the Greek philosopher Aristotle gave the family name, Sittidae, to nuthatches. Just goes to show you how observant he was. Nuthatches don't actually peck at the bark, but rather at the seed or nut that they've wedged into a bark crevice with their bill. Unlike chickadees that hold the seeds with their feet as they peck them apart, nuthatches use the bark itself as a gripper. The Red-breasted nuthatch and its cousins are the only tree-trunk foraging birds that regularly feed moving head downward on the tree. In this way, descending nuthatches may find food (usually insects) in bark crevices overlooked by "up the trunk" feeding tree creepers and small woodpeckers. Like so many of its other characteristics, the male's courtship display is also unique. He raises his head and tail as he droops his wings and fluffs up his back feathers. Then he sings his high-pitched wa-wa-wa-wa-wa penny trumpet song and sways from side to side with his back turned towards his future mate. If men were as talented as nuthatches in this department, we'd never have a problem finding a good aipaq. After nuthatches have paired they may remain together on their feeding territory throughout the winter if food resources are adequate. Otherwise they will probably go their separate ways. In any case, they do remain faithful to each other during the nesting and fledging period, sharing in both incubation of the eggs and the feeding and raising of the chicks. As with most birds, the female alone excavates the nest to suit her fancy in the cavity of a rotten tree stump or branch. She lines the bed of the nest with shredded bark, small roots, mosses and grass. When she's finished she uses her bill to smear pitch from spruce trees around the entrance to the nest cavity. This is probably to guard against larger predators like ravens. She lays five or six white to pinkish-white eggs that are peppered with brown spots. Both male and female brood the eggs for 12 days, after which the young hack their way out of the shells (good practice for later). For the next three weeks both dad and mom have their hands full feeding their family in the nest. After fledging, however, the young slowly but surely learn to feed and care for themselves. It is during this period they learn to forage "upside down" and to hack seeds and nuts into edible bits and pieces in the crevices of tree bark. Two other interesting common names of this small bird are: devil-down-head and topsy-turvy-bird. Anyone for climbing down a tree head first? » List of Yupik Birds

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