Bird
White-breasted Nuthatch
Sitta carolinensis
Lives in Alabama all year and nests here. Found in 38 of 67 counties, across 12 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 38 of 67 counties
- Habitats
- 12

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 38 of 67 counties
- Habitats
- 12
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 12
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.



Streams, rivers and their banks


Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Open, thin-soil openings and rock on limestone, dolomite or other lime-rich rock, including cedar glades.
Granite and other acidic rock outcrops
Bare or thin-soil rock on granite, gneiss, sandstone, quartzite and similar acidic rock, including granite flatrocks and domes.
Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.
Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Other habitats in its models (80)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama. Those recorded in Alabama first, the rest by region.
In Alabama 1
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Year-round.
Elsewhere in the South (44)
- Appalachian Shale Barrens Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Year-round.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Year-round.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Year-round.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Year-round.
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Year-round.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Year-round.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Year-round.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Year-round.
- Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Year-round.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Year-round.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Year-round.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Year-round.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Year-round.
Northeast (7)
- Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Year-round.
Midwest (5)
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Year-round.
Land cover and other classes (23)
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Year-round.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Year-round.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- The GAP model includes dense pine only near its primary habitat.
Seasons in Alabama
- Year-round: nests here, in 38 of 67 counties.
Food plants
Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.
Native plants in these genera 70
- Albany HawthornCrataegus furtiva
- Barberry HawthornCrataegus berberifolia
- Crataegus flavaCrataegus flava
- Eastern HawthornCrataegus macrosperma
- Frosted HawthornCrataegus pruinosa
- Hill HawthornCrataegus collina
- Littlehip HawthornCrataegus spathulata
- May HawthornCrataegus aestivalis
- One-flowered HawthornCrataegus uniflora
- Parsley HawthornCrataegus marshallii
- Pear HawthornCrataegus calpodendron
- Red HawthornCrataegus iracunda
- Rough HawthornCrataegus senta
- Sunny HawthornCrataegus aprica
- Washington HawthornCrataegus phaenopyrum
- Alabama HawthornCrataegus alabamensis var. alabamensis
- Ashe's HawthornCrataegus ashei
- Crataegus aemulaCrataegus aemula
- Crataegus integraCrataegus lassa var. integra
- Crataegus mendosaCrataegus mendosa
- Crataegus trifloraCrataegus triflora
- Crataegus viridis var. lanceolataCrataegus viridis var. lanceolata
- Downy HawthornCrataegus mollis
- Dwarf HawthornCrataegus munda
Plant genera in its diet records (5)
- Crataegus 1 diet record. 37 native plants in Alabama
- Helianthus 1 diet record. 23 native plants in Alabama
- Triticum 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Alabama
- Vitis 1 diet record. 10 native plants in Alabama
- Zea 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Alabama
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Alabama, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Birds 104
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Evening GrosbeakCoccothraustes vespertinus
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Swainson's WarblerLimnothlypis swainsonii
- Wilson's WarblerWilsonia pusilla
- Worm-eating WarblerHelmitheros vermivorum
- American WoodcockScolopax minor
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
Plants 418
- Elliott's BlueberryVaccinium elliottii
- White Panicled Aster; Eastern Lined AsterSymphyotrichum lanceolatum var. latifolium
- Possumhaw HollyIlex decidua
- Cherrybark OakQuercus pagoda
- Appalachian Orange ConeflowerRudbeckia umbrosa
- Rudbeckia fulgida var. spathulataRudbeckia spathulata
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Southern Shagbark HickoryCarya carolinae-septentrionalis
- Spruce Pine; Walters Pine; Cedar PinePinus glabra
- Spreading SedgeCarex laxiculmis
- Louisiana SedgeCarex louisianica
- Smooth Hedge-nettleStachys tenuifolia
Dry forests and woodlands
Birds 79
- Blackburnian WarblerDendroica fusca
- Red CrossbillLoxia curvirostra
- Red-cockaded WoodpeckerPicoides borealis
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Blue-headed VireoVireo solitarius
- Evening GrosbeakCoccothraustes vespertinus
- Pine WarblerDendroica pinus
- Brown-headed NuthatchSitta pusilla
- Bachman's SparrowAimophila aestivalis
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Swainson's WarblerLimnothlypis swainsonii
Plants 224
- Chestnut OakQuercus montana
- Georgia OakQuercus georgiana
- American ChestnutCastanea dentata
- Boynton's OakQuercus boyntonii
- White ThoroughwortEupatorium album
- Sessileleaf Tick-trefoilDesmodium sessilifolium
- Painted SedgeCarex picta
- Ernests SpiderwortTradescantia ernestiana
- Leavenworth's SedgeCarex leavenworthii
- Southern Whitetinge SedgeCarex albicans var. australis
- Southern LoosestrifeSteironema tonsa
- Alabama SkullcapScutellaria alabamensis
Swamps
Birds 102
- Eurasian WigeonAnas penelope
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Reddish EgretEgretta rufescens
- RedheadAythya americana
- Swainson's WarblerLimnothlypis swainsonii
- Tricolored HeronEgretta tricolor
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- Cerulean WarblerDendroica cerulea
Plants 327
- Black Highbush BlueberryVaccinium fuscatum
- Dahoon HollyIlex cassine
- May HawthornCrataegus aestivalis
- Carolina AshFraxinus caroliniana
- Dense-flower SmartweedPersicaria densiflora
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Bent SedgeCarex styloflexa
- Collins's SedgeCarex collinsii
- Cypress-swamp SedgeCarex joorii
- Dark-green SedgeCarex venusta
- Fringed SedgeCarex crinita
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP year-round habitat model for White-breasted Nuthatch Elevation sea level to 1,524 m
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)
- Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab) (CC0 1.0), diet records by plant genus






























































