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Distribution
Figure 1. Year-round distribution of the White-breasted Nuthatch.
Tends to become quiet in breeding season, as nesting begins, and thus hard to detect; distribution records (or lack thereof) rarely acknowledge this fact.
Generally resident in wooded areas across s. Canada from s. British Columbia to Prince Edward I. and Maritime Provinces (Godfrey 1986). In Ontario, primarily southeast; northern limit extends to about 50°N, north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior, possibly west to Rainy River District (Cadman at al. 1987, Peck and James 1987). In New York State (Bonney 1988; http://www.dec.state.ny.us/cfmx/extapps/bba/ ), widespread except for northern coniferous forests of high elevation Adirondack and Catskill mountains.
In British Columbia (Campbell et al. 1997), primarily southern interior, but scattered records north (in east) to 56°N. Absent from parts of treeless Great Plains—n. Montana and s. Saskatchewan, s. Texas to w.-central Nebraska (Root 1988). Occupies riparian habitats and scattered ponderosa pine groves in prairies of S. Dakota (http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/birds/sdatlas/sdatlas.htm). In Wyoming (Dorn and Dorn 1999), coniferous and deciduous woodlands at low to middle elevations, and riparian corridors. In Washington State (Chappell 2005; http://www.fish.washington.edu/naturemapping/wagap/public_html/birds/sicar.gif), primarily central and northeastern regions of state, especially east slope of the Cascades, but also in open-canopy forests dominated by ponderosa pine and Oregon white oak and (east) in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir zones. Absent from semiarid shrub and scrub steppe of the Great Basin and Sonoran Desert (Root 1988).
Range extends south to w. Texas (http://txtbba.tamu.edu/maps/WBNU.HTM) and n. Florida (panhandle; http://myfwc.com/bba/ ), to s. Baja California and s. Oaxaca, Mexico – in montane woodlands of semi-humid pine and pine-oak, 1500-3500 m elevation (Phillips 1986; Howell and Webb 1995).
Historical Changes In Distribution
Apparently decreased in early 20th century in se. U.S.; expanded into se. Washington and probably north of Great Plains (Phillips 1986). Declined (and now absent) in s. Puget Sound area of w. Washington State, possible the result of loss of oak woodland (Chappell 2005).
Fossil History
Not known.
Grubb, Jr., T. C. and V. V. Pravosudov. 2008. White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/054
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