If a kingfisher ever fell for a woodpecker… well, there wouldn’t be any offspring. Biologically it’s quite a leap.
But imagine for a moment that the union was fertile. The kids might just turn out looking something like a nuthatch.
A kind of Zorro of the boughs, nuthatches are dashing residents of woodland and, increasingly, gardens, where they make lightning raids on bird tables and peanut feeders.
Knowing all the different calls of a nuthatch is perhaps a life’s work. They whistle, and chitter, and whisper. But their loud ‘dweep dweep’ is one of the easiest to latch on to.
This is one of their contact calls, and is made through the year.
The song thrush has a similar sound in its song repertoire - perhaps one species nicked it from the other, many moons ago. But while thrushes move on after a few dweeps, nuthatches can keep it going, like a toddler who’s discovered the question ‘why?’ for the first time.
Another of their more distinctive noises is the trilling, whinnying sound that is their simple song.
Like woodpeckers and thrushes, nuthatches like to sing from a high spot, from where the sound can carry far. It’s a typical part of the soundtrack to a walk in the woods on a warm day in March and April.
Recognising these sounds makes seeing a nuthatch rather easier during the times when they are otherwise hidden high in the leaves.
They hop with incredible confidence along lateral branches, and can also travel face-first down a tree trunk, which marks them out from most of their neighbours.
Other treehuggers such as woodpeckers and treecreepers almost always head upwards.
Perhaps that upside-down technique gives nuthatches access to foods, hidden in the fissures of the bark, that other species miss. The world must look quite different to a upturned nuthatch.
Having quadrupled in numbers in the UK over the past 50 years, nuthatches can be found in most wooded places of England and Wales, but they do like large, broadleafed trees to feed and nest in, and so tend to be absent from very open landscapes.
They’re not keen to fly any great distance, especially not over water, which helps explain why they are completely absent from the island of Ireland.
They are also absent from most of Scotland, although they are now spreading from the south, fuelled perhaps as much by climate change as the availability of garden peanuts.
So for nuthatch: listen for the ‘dweep dweep’ call and look out for a bird heading face-first downhill.
The Eurasian nuthatch (or wood nuthatch) is found across Asia and Europe, but is one of many nuthatch species across the world. For more on the ecology of nuthatches in the UK see the BTO website.
🎧 Listen of the week
“Hummingbirds are, frankly, tiny assholes. They are small bundles of sass and fury - and I love them for that.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong reflects on his work covering COVID-19, the impact that had on his own health, and the restorative powers of tuning into birdsong.
Thanks Martha for recommending this fabulous conversation.
🐦⬛ Birdsong walkshop this coming Saturday
Last two tickets! Stanmer Park, near Brighton on Saturday 8 March. TICKETS HERE
This is the ninth instalment in 2025’s cycle of Shriek of the Week. You can catch up with Robin, which includes details of the plan for this year, as well as Wren, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Great Tit, Dunnock, Chaffinch and Goldcrest.
If you can, subscribing to the paid tier to Shriek of the Week supports me to write more and keep this all going.
It also gets you access to the full A-Z archive of Shriek of the Week AND our livestream-hopping Early Bird Club call - the next is 8am BST (GMT +1) on Saturday 5th April.
Thank you this week to Leah W & to Kathleen, your support is very much appreciated.
Media credits:
Nuthatch image by Jonathan Clark on Pexels
Treecreeper image by TheOtherKev on Pixabay
Share this post