Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla)

Abundance: Very Uncommon during all seasons; recorded in 9 Regional counties, 1 in Kentucky and 8 in Tennessee (see also Remarks [below]) (Map of UCR Distribution); data are too few to determine the Regional population trend, but it is probably slightly to moderately positive (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Permanent Resident; a small breeding colony present at a site in Putnam County, Tennessee, has been active since at least 1999 but was probably active prior to that year; another small breeding colony was active at a site in northeastern Fentress County, Tennessee, during 2008 and again in 2013; and still another small breeding colony has been active at a site in northeastern Van Buren County, Tennessee, since 2010; otherwise recorded only as a Visitor, but further establishment of small breeding colonies likely, as evidenced by sightings in Bledsoe and White counties, Tennessee, during 2012; photograph [ventral view of adult] (Stephen J. Stedman; Cookeville Golf Course, Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee; 20 January 2002).

Regional High Count, SBC/SBB High Count, and CBC/CBB High Count: 10 (13 May 2006; Cookeville Golf Course, Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee [SBC]; Winston A. Walden, Michael P. O'Rourke; and 20 December 2008; Cookeville Golf Course, Putnam County, Tennessee [Cookeville CBC]; Winston A. Walden, Thomas M. Saya).

Information on Records: 

29 July 1974 (5) Fall Creek Falls State Park, Van Buren County, Tennessee (Tony Koella, Don Psitzer; Williams 1974d; Haney 1981).

28 February 1990 (1) Cumberland County, Tennessee (R. S. Doxey; Knight 1990b).

July 1995 (number not specified) Frozen Head State Natural Area, Morgan County, Tennessee (C. P. Nicholson; Roy et al. 2001).

19 February 1999–present (breeding colony of several pairs) Cookeville Golf Course, Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee (Timothy R. Riddle et al; Casteel 2002b; Stedman and Walden 2003).

26 September–12 October 1999 (1—adult) Wolf Creek Dam, Russell County, Kentucky (David L. Roemer et al.; Busroe 2000a; McNeeley 2001).

18–21 April 2008 (2—adults at nest with eggs) Oby Blevins Rd., Fentress County, Tennessee (David and Laura Crotser photos, Stephen J. Stedman).

4 March/2 April 2010 (2—seen and heard [in response to iPod recording]) Big Bottom Unit, Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness, Van Buren County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand); recorded at this site during 2011, 2012, and 2013 also.

13 June 2010 (1) near Coalfield, Morgan County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman), an Oliver Springs BBS record.

25 February 2012 (1) Mason Grissom Rd., Warren County, Tennessee (N. P. "Mac" McWhirter).

18/19/21 June 2012 (2/1/1) Bledsoe County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand), a Bledsoe County Foray record.

15 September 2012 (1/3) Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness/Railroad Grade Rd., White County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand), a Fall Bird Count record.

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent).  A juvenile with yellowish mandibles was observed with several adults at the Cookeville Golf Course, Putnam County, Tennessee, 30 May 2002 (Stephen J. Stedman; Stedman and Walden 2003), providing the first positive breeding evidence at that site—and in the Region.  On 8 May 2003 a young nuthatch out of the nest was observed being fed by an adult at the same site (Stephen J. Stedman, Winston A. Walden, Michael P. O'Rourke).  On 3 May 2004 an adult was observed passing food to young in a nest cavity located in a dead limb of a living loblolly pine at the Cookeville Golf Course (Stephen J. Stedman, Winston A. Walden). On 21 April 2008 a nest with 4 or 5 eggs was observed on Oby Blevins Rd., Fentress County, Tennessee (David and Laura Crotser pers. com.); this site was dominated by shortleaf pines possessing a heavy cone crop.

Habitat: Old-growth pines, especially loblolly pines, appear to be requisite for this species to persist more than a day or so at a given site.  The sightings at the Wolf Creek Dam, Russell County, Kentucky, during fall 1999 took place where planted loblolly pines were the dominant; these pines were all killed as a result of an outbreak of southern pine beetles in the early 2000s, rendering the site unsuitable for Brown-heads.  The breeding colony at the Cookeville Golf Course, Putnam County, Tennessee, since at least February 1999 has resided in stands of large, old, planted loblolly pines; these were thinned by the pine beetle outbreak of the early 2000s, but many large, old pines resisted the outbreak and continue to provide suitable habitat for the nuthatches.  The breeding colony in Fentress County, Tennessee, during spring 2008 and summer 2013 was located in an area where shortleaf pines were the dominant.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: C. Douglas Malone (pers. com.) recollected a sighting of this nuthatch in Warren County, Tennessee, but was unable to recall the year of the observation, which took place during winter, or the site of the observation. David Chaffin (pers. com.) provided no details about a purported sighting at Standing Stone State Park, Overton County, Tennessee, in the late 1990s.

    As with so much else involving the history of the Regional avifauna, the date, and even the year, of the actual first arrival of Brown-heads at the Cookeville Golf Course in Putnam County, Tennessee, will never be known; the date provided above is simply the earliest confirmed date available.  Based on the arrival of Brown-heads in the vicinity of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, in 1968 (Haney 1981) and their subsequent discovery in Fall Creek Falls State Park, Van Buren County, Tennessee, in 1974 (Williams 1974c), it appears possible that this species could have pushed northward to Putnam County, Tennessee, by 1980 and certainly by 1990 when the record in Cumberland County, Tennessee, was made (Knight 1990b).

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited