Michele Mendi

It occupies deciduous and mixed (in Europe rarely coniferous) forests with mature trees with well-developed canopy, also riverine woodland, parkland, old orchards, large gardens etc. Species’ range extends across the temperate regions of the Palearctic, from W Europe and S Scandinavia to Kamchatka, Japan and SE China, as well as NW Africa and Middle East. It is widespread in Europe, absent in most of Fennoscandia and some islands (Harrap et al. 2020, Keller et al. 2020).

Essentially resident species, irregular irruptions sometimes take place.

Its population trend in Europe is increasing. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		19000000-34700000,25100000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Eurasian Nuthatch

The species is largely sedentary. Dispersal movements take place mostly in juveniles, sometimes becoming irruptions/ invasions – usually small-scale in Europe. Siberian populations perform more frequent and large-scale irruptions, sometimes resulting in movements of numerous birds to N Europe (Harrap et al. 2020).

Distant recoveries (>=50 km) are not plentiful – ca. 88% of them less than 250km away from the ringing site. They show only local and short-distance movements – mostly within-country or movements across neighbouring countries.

Dataset shows such mostly in Germany, UK, the Low Countries and S Scandinavia. Some of the most distant recoveries include movements unlikely to represent regular migrations: from C to S Europe, within W Europe, from SW to E Europe and within E Europe.

Recoveries by Condition for Eurasian Nuthatch

Most encounters are obtained since 2000. They are generally distributed evenly throughout the year, mostly during autumn and winter. The bulk of encounters are recorded in C, NW, W & N Europe – ca. 95% combined (42, 29, 15 and 9% respectively).

The encounters based on dead birds decreased over the years (from 50% pre-1960 to just 2% after 1991), while those based on alive birds – markedly increased (from ca. 47% to 97% respectively); the latter is mostly due to ringing encounters. Surprisingly, a few recoveries in the past are obtained as a result of shooting. A variety of recovery condition categories related to human activities has been achieved as a result of the numerous urban populations close-existing to humans.

Annual Movements for Eurasian Nuthatch

The species is strictly resident. Post-breeding dispersal movements are extremely limited, usually within several kilometers; 95% of all birds found dead in UK have been encountered within 15km, mostly within 1km (Wernham et al. 2002). Initial dispersal starts very soon after fledging, while a second peak is noted for Aug-Sep, which involves birds making longer movements (Matthysen 1998).

Based on ringing data in Finland autumn irruptions start in Sep, peaking in mid-Oct, with females showing higher tendency to participate (Saurola et al. 2013). Spring movements are evident in Mar-Apr.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Eurasian Nuthatch

All populations considered resident, juveniles being more prone to disperse, mostly in N Europe. Post-breeding dispersal often takes place in couple of waves. A distinct preference to the SW direction during dispersal has been noted in juveniles in the Low Countries (Matthysen 1998), but in many cases dispersal movements have no prevailing direction. An increase in natal dispersal distances has been found in more fragmented habitats (Matthysen et al. 1995). The species avoids water crossings and recoveries like the one of a bird marked in France and subsequently found in S Sardinia should be considered exceptional (Spina, Volponi, 2008).

Long-distance movement of an adult marked in E Poland and subsequently found in Moscow region possibly represents a post-invasion withdrawal.

Ringing data from France and SE Europe extremely limited.

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
2002 . The Migration Atlas: movements of the birds of Britain and Ireland. T. & A.D. Poyser, LondonEditor(s): Wernham, C.V., Toms, M.P., Marchant, J.H., Clark, J.A., Siriwardena, G.M., Baillie, S.R.
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Sitta europaea. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 31/08/2021.
Harrap, S. 2020 . Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.shttre1.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Matthysen, E. 1998 . The Nuthatches. T. & A.D. Poyser, London
Matthysen, E., Adriaensen, F., Dhondt, A. 1995 . Dispersal Distances of Nuthatches, Sitta europaea, in a Highly Fragmented Forest Habitat. Oikos 72: 375–381
Saurola, P. Valkama, J., Velmala, W. 2013 . The Finnish Bird Ringing Atlas Vol. I. Finnish Museum of Natural History and Ministry of Environment, Helsinki
Spina, F., Volponi, S. 2008 . Atlante della Migrazione degli Uccelli in Italia. 2. Passeriformi. Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, Instituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Tipografia SCR-Roma

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