the.com/nuthatch
the only bird that walks down trees headfirst, gravity be damned.
means A small, sturdy songbird known for creeping headfirst down tree trunks as it forages for insects and seeds.
from The name is a corruption of the older 'nuthack' — 'nut' plus 'hack' (to chop or peck) — describing the bird's habit of wedging a nut into bark and hacking it open with its bill. Over time 'hack' drifted toward the familiar word 'hatch,' though the bird hatches nothing of the sort; the original sense was the chopper, not the egg.
- name origin
- wedges nuts in bark, hacks them open
- upside-down vision
- spots bugs other birds miss climbing up
- sap defense
- smears sticky resin around nest entrances
- food memory
- hides thousands of seeds, recalls each spot
- tiny powerhouse
- weighs less than a handful of coins
white-breasted nuthatch — common north american species that walks headfirst down tree trunks, found across usa and canada
red-breasted nuthatch — smaller species with rusty underparts, ranges from canada to mexico in coniferous forests
eurasian nuthatch — widespread across europe and asia, the only nuthatch species in the old world