Chestnut-vented Nuthatch

Identification

The chestnut-vented nuthatch is a medium-sized nuthatch, measuring 12.5–14 cm (4.9–5.5 in) in length. The upperparts are a solid blue-gray from crown to tail, with a marked black loral line extending to the base of the wing. The underparts are pale gray, more or less tinted buff-tinged depending on the subspecies or the wear of the plumage; the dark brick-red back flanks contrast strongly with the rest of the underparts. The undertail coverts, which may be of the same color depending on the subspecies, have a large white border at the end of the feathers or a white patch near the tip.<p>The species does not show marked sexual dimorphism. The male's rear flanks are deep brick-red, deeper and less orange than the undertail coverts, whereas the female's flanks are rufous, concolorous with the undertail coverts. Females also have duller underparts, and juveniles are more buff than adults with worn plumage. The iris is brown to dark brown, the bill is grayish-black to blackish with the base of the lower mandible (and sometimes the base of the upper) slate-gray or blue-gray. The legs are dark brown, greenish or blue-gray, with almost black claws.<p>Three subspecies are recognized, but variations are essentially clinal, with Chinese populations (S. n. montium) having buff underparts, which get duller and purer gray as they move southward in the species' distribution. In Northeast India and western Myanmar, S. n. nagaensis in fresh plumage is as buff as S. n. montium in worn plumage. In southern Vietnam and southwestern Myanmar, S. n. grisiventris has purer gray underparts than S. n. nagaensis. Adults undergo a complete moult after the breeding season, from May to June, and an incomplete moult occurs before it.<p>The range of the chestnut-vented nuthatch overlaps with that of the Burmese nuthatch (S. neglecta). However, the chestnut-vented nuthatch is easily distinguished by the color of its underparts, and the lack of contrast between the sides of the head and the throat, whereas the other species has white chins, cheeks, and parotid region contrasting with brick-red to orange-brown underparts. However, in the chestnut-vented nuthatch, some individuals in fresh plumage (especially in S. n. montium) may have underparts almost as buff as some Burmese nuthatch females or juveniles. The chestnut-vented nuthatch can then be recognized by its darker, duller blue upperparts, by its red flanks contrasting with the buff, and by its undertail, with feathers edged with red giving a "scales" pattern, when they appear almost uniformly white in the Burmese nuthatch.<p>The subspecies S. n. montium can also be confused with the subspecies S. e. sinensis of the Eurasian nuthatch (S. europaea) where they coexist in Sichuan and Fujian. If the latter species has more orange underparts, some Eurasian females may be difficult to differentiate from chestnut-vented nuthatches in fresh plumage. The two species can be distinguished by their vocalizations, with chestnut-vented nuthatch lacking the characteristic singing dwip of the Euraisan nuthatch. Hybrids between these two taxa have been hypothesized, with montane populations of S. e. sinensis being, like the chestnut-vented nuthatch, grayer on the underside, darker above, and larger than lowland individuals. The chestnut-vented nuthatch, however, is even grayer, and does not have the whitish cheeks of the Eurasian nuthatch.<p>In southwest China, the chestnut-vented nuthatch lives within the range of the Yunnan nuthatch (S. yunnanensis). However, the latter is smaller, has a thin white supercilium, and has plain, pale buff underparts with no russet on the flanks. In northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar, the chestnut-vented nuthatch may be confused with the white-tailed nuthatch (S. himalayensis), the both species inhabit similar habitats. The white-tailed nuthatch, however, has a white spot on the top of the middle rectrices, and has more orange underparts, without brick-red flanks or white spots on the undertail. The giant nuthatch (S. magna), whose distribution overlaps with that of the chestnut-vented nuthatch in India, Myanmar, and Thailand, differs from the latter in being much larger in size, having a finer eyestripe, and having a calotte that is much lighter than the rest of the mantle.

Taxonomy

The chestnut-vented nuthatch was described as Sitta nagaensis in 1874 by the British naturalist Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen. Its species name is composed of naga and the Latin suffix -ensis, "that lives in, that inhabits," was given in reference to the area when the type of the species was collected, the Naga Hills. The chestnut-vented nuthatch is placed in the rarely-used subgenus Sitta (Linnaeus, 1758). <p>In 2014, Eric Pasquet and colleagues published a phylogeny based on examination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of 21 nuthatch species. The europaea group is related to the two nuthatches that live in rocky environments, the western rock nuthatch (S. neumayer) and the eastern rock nuthatch (S. tephronota). Within the europaea group, the white-tailed nuthatch (S. himalayensis) and therefore probably the white-browed nuthatch (S. victoriae), which closely resembles it in terms of its morphology, although it was not included in the study, appear to be basal, and the chestnut-vented nuthatch is closely related to the Eurasian nuthatch (S. europaea) and the Kashmir nuthatch (S. cashmirensis).<p><p>There are three recognized subspecies of the chestnut-vented nuthatch. <p>The subspecies S. n. montium was considered to possibly be the result of hybridization between the chestnut-vented nuthatch and Sitta europaea sinensis, or at least to be able to interbreed with it. This is possibly due to the fact that the type series of S. e. sinensis was composite and included a specimen of the chestnut-vented nuthatch. For these reasons, Jean-François Voisin and colleagues designated a lectotype in 2002 for the name Sitta sinensis (Verreaux, 1871). The attribution of the populations of southwestern Myanmar and southern Indochina to the same subspecies, S. n. grisiventris with S. n. nagaensis interspersed between these populations in western Myanmar seems untenable and their taxonomy has yet to be verified.

Scientific name

Sitta nagaensis

Authority

Godwin-Austen, 1874

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Sittidae

Genus

Sitta

Range and habitat

The chestnut-vented nuthatch lives from Tibet to the South Central Coast of Vietnam. In India, it is found only in the far eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya. The species lives in the Chin Hills of western Myanmar, but most of its distribution in Myanmar is in the eastern half of the country, from Kachin State to at least Shan State, spilling over into western Thailand. The species nests in Tibet and south-central China, from western Sichuan to Yunnan and marginally in southwestern Guizhou. An isolated Chinese population also lives in northwestern Fujian, on Mount Huanggang. Two other isolated populations from the southernmost part of the species' distribution, one occurring in southern Vietnam on the Đà Lạt Plateau, another being reported in Laos on the Bolaven Plateau. <p>The chestnut-vented nuthatch usually inhabits evergreen forests of the uplands, or forests and pine patches growing on dry ridges in the middle of evergreen forests. Locally, it also occurs in deciduous forests in northeastern India, in Quercus subsericea oak forests and alder groves in northeastern Myanmar, spruce forests (Picea sp.), fir forests (Abies sp.) or rhododendron stands in Yunnan, or poplar (Populus sp.) and walnut (Juglans sp.) in Sichuan. The altitudinal distribution ranges from 1,400–2,600 m (4,600–8,500 ft) in India, Thailand, and Myanmar, occasionally occurring up to 3,200 m (10,500 ft) in the latter. It also occurs from 1,050–3,500 m (3,440–11,480 ft) in Tibet and Sichuan and up to 4,570 m (15,000 ft) in Yunnan. The population in southern Vietnam lives between 915–2,285 m (3,002–7,497 ft).

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

The chestnut-vented nuthatch generally surveys alone or in pairs, or forms mixed-species foraging flocks outside of the breeding season. In winter, it can thus be observed in the company of different species of tits (Paridae) such as the yellow-cheeked tit (Maclolophus spilonotus), or Aegithalidae, woodpeckers, alcippes, and minlas.<p>The chestnut-vented nuthatch's calls are varied, with squeaky sit or sit-sit sounds, repeated more or less rapidly with various inflections and in irregular series. Similar but drier tchip or tchit sounds are sometimes made, often in a trill reminiscent of the alarm of the winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis). The alarm calls of the chestnut-vented nuthatch are reported in English-language literature as nasal sounds in quir, kner or mew, as well as an emphatic, metallic tsit, sometimes doubled or repeated in quick series. The song is a stereotyped, monotonous rattle or tremolo in chichichichichi ... or trr-rrrrrrr-ri ..., lasting less than a second or sometimes slowed down to chi-chi-chi-chi-chi ... or diu-diu-diu- diu-diu reminiscent of the song of the Eurasian nuthatch.<p>The chestnut-vented nuthatch often forages for food on the ground, on rocks, old stumps, or on trees. No specific information about the diet is known, but the species probably feeds on small arthropods and seeds.<p>Although the breeding season varies by region, it generally takes place in Thailand from March to May, March to June for India, April to early June for eastern Myanmar, and April to May in Fujian. On Nat Ma Taung, juveniles have been observed as early as March 31. According to observations made in Thailand and Vietnam, the construction of the nest begins in January. It is located at a height of about 10 m (390 in) in the hole of a tree, or in a stump.<p>The chestnut-vented nuthatch, like the Eurasian nuthatch and other species of the family, may line the entrance of a cavity with mud to reduce the opening and thus avoid predation of the brood. The bottom of the nest is lined with pieces of bark and moss and topped with hair. Two to five eggs are laid, averaging 18.6 mm × 13.8 mm (0.73 in × 0.54 in) in S. n. nagaensis and 18.3 mm × 14 mm (0.72 in × 0.55 in) in S. n. montium. They are white, with red dots on a mottled reddish-purple background, and are mainly concentrated at the larger end of the egg.

Conservation

Population trend

declining