Nuthatches (Sittidae)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) - HBW 13, p. 136

French: Sittelle à poitrine rousse German: Kanadakleiber Spanish: Trepador Canadiense
Other common names: Red-bellied Nuthatch

Taxonomy: Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766, Canada.
A member of a species group that contains also S. whiteheadi, S. ledanti, S. krueperi, S. villosa and S. yunnanensis, and all sometimes thought to form a superspecies. Present species formerly treated as conspecific with S. whiteheadi and S. villosa; close relationship with these two supported by recent data on mitochondrial DNA, which indicate that all three form a sister-clade to S. krueperi and S. ledanti (no S. yunnanensis material was available for analysis), with a genetic distance of approximately 10% betwe.. View all taxonomy...

Distribution: Breeds from SE Alaska (E from Kodiak I) and S Canada (S from S Yukon, including Queen Charlotte Is and Vancouver, N Saskatchewan and C Manitoba, and E to SC Quebec, S Labrador and Newfoundland, including islands of Prince Edward, Anticosti, and St Pierre and Miquelon), S in W USA (absent much of E Washington) to mountains in California (excluding immediate coast, but breeds irregularly Santa Cruz I) and Rocky Mts and Great Basin from W & S Montana (also isolated forests in E) S to C & W Colorado, E Arizona and S New Mexico, also W South Dakota (Black Hills) and irregularly SW North Dakota and N Nebraska; in E, breeds S to NE & E Minnesota, N Wisconsin, S Michigan, N Ohio, C Pennsylvania, S New Jersey and N Connecticut, extending S in Appalachian Mts to E Tennessee and W North Carolina.