Sittidae

Taxobox
name = Nuthatches

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image_caption = A Eurasian Nuthatch climbing a tree trunk in search of food
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
subordo = Passeri
familia = Sittidae
familia_authority = Lesson, 1828
subdivision_ranks = genera
subdivision = "Sitta"
"Tichodroma"

Sittidae is a family of small passerine birds which has two subfamilies
*Sittinidae, which contains the single genus "Sitta" containing about 24 species of nuthatches, which are found across Eurasia and North America.
*Tichodromadinae, which contains one species, the Wallcreeper, "Tichodroma muraria", which is restricted to the mountains of southern Eurasia.The Wallcreeper is intermediate in its morphology between the nuthatches and the treecreepers, but its appearance, the texture of its plumage, and the shape and pattern of its tail suggest that it is closer to the former taxon.cite journal| last= Vaurie | first= Charles | coauthors= Koelz, Walter,| month= November | year=1950 | title= Notes on some Asiatic nuthatches and creepers | journal= American Museum novitates | volume=1472 | issue= | pages= p1–39 | url = http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/4241/1/N1472.pdf |format = PDF | doi = | quotes = |] It is occasionally placed in a separate family, the Tichodromadidae.cite book | last = Snow | first = David |coauthors= Perrins, Christopher M (editors)| title = The Birds of the Western Palearctic (BWP) concise edition (2 volumes) | publisher = Oxford University Press |date = 1998| location =Oxford | isbn = 019854099X| pages = p1408-1410]

Taxonomy

The Sittidae family was described by René-Primevère Lesson in 1828. Its closest relatives are the treecreepers, and the two families are sometimes placed in a larger grouping with the wrens and gnatcatchers. This superfamily, the Certhioidea is proposed on phylogenetic studies using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, and was created to cover a clade of four families removed from a larger grouping of passerine birds, the Sylvioidea.Cracraft, J.; Barker, F. Keith; Braun, M. J.; Harshman, J.; Dyke, G.; Feinstein, J.; Stanley, S.; Cibois, A.; Schikler, P.; Beresford, P.; García-Moreno, J.; Sorenson, M. D.; Yuri, T.; Mindell. D. P. (2004) "Phylogenetic relationships among modern birds (Neornithes): Toward an avian tree of life." p468–489 in "Assembling the tree of life" (J. Cracraft and M. J. Donoghue, eds.). Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0195172345]

The Nuthatch Vanga of Madagascar and the sitellas from Australia and New Guinea were once placed in the family Sittidae, because of similarities in appearance and lifestyle to the nuthatches, but they are not closely related, the resemblances arising from convergent evolution to fill an ecological niche. cite book | last = Harrap | first =Simon | coauthors= Quinn, David |title = Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers | year = 1996 | publisher = Christopher Helm | pages = p16–17|isbn = 0-7136-3964-4]

Behaviour

Breeding

All the species in this group nest in cavities. The Wallcreeper and two nuthatches, the Western and Eastern Rock Nuthatches use rock crevices, and the rest of the nuthatches nest in tree holes. The chicks are altricial, which means they are blind, featherless and helpless at birth. Both parents feed the nestlings until the young birds fledge.

Feeding

The Wallcreeper is an insectivore, which feeds on invertebrates, primarily insects and spiders gleaned from the rock face.cite book |title=The Birdwatcher's Handbook |last=Ehrlich |first=Paul R. |coauthors=David S. Dobkin, Darryl Wheye & Stuart L. Pimm |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=440 |isbn=0-29-858407-5] Invertebrates are also a major part of the diet for nuthatches, especially during the breeding season, but most species also eat seeds at least during the winter, when invertebrates are less readily available. Larger food items, such as big insects, snails, acorns or seeds may be wedged into cracks and hacked with the nuthatches's strong bill, this of course being the behaviour which gives that subfamily group its name. The nuthatches all store food, usually seeds, which may be pushed into crevices or into the ground, hidden under small stones, or tucked behind bark flakes; the rock nuthatches will also wedge snails into suitable crevices for consumption in times of need. Caches are recovered by memory, [cite journal| last= Hardling | first= Roger | coauthors= Kallander, Hans & Jan-Åke Nilsson | month= | year=1997 | title= Memory for Hoarded Food: An Aviary Study of the European Nuthatch | journal= The Condor | volume=99 | issue= 2| pages= p526–529 | url = http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v099n02/p0526-p0529.pdf |format = PDF | doi = | quotes = |] and can be retrieved as long as 98 days after being stored. [ cite journal| last= Nilsson | first= Jan-Åke | coauthors= Persson, Hans Källander Owe | month= | year=1993 | title= A prudent hoarder: effects of long-term hoarding in the European nuthatch, "Sitta europaea" | journal= Behavioral Ecology | volume=4 | issue= 4| pages= p369–373 | url = |format = | doi = | quotes = |] In one study of European Nuthatches birds refrained from using their caches during benign conditions in order to save them for harsher conditions.

Fossils

The fossil record for this group appears to be restricted to a foot bone of an early Miocene bird from Bavaria which has been identified as an extinct representative of the climbing Certhioidea, a clade comprising the treecreepers, Wallcreeper and nuthatches. It has been described as "Certhiops rummeli".cite journal| last= Manegold | first= Albrecht | coauthors= | month= April | year= 2008| title= Earliest fossil record of the Certhioidea (treecreepers and allies) from the early Miocene of Germany | journal= Journal of Ornithology | volume=149 | issue= 2 | pages= p223–228| url = | |format = | doi = 10.1007/s10336-007-0263-9| quotes = |]

tatus

The Wallcreeper and most nuthatches have large populations and extensive geographical ranges, and present few conservation problems,cite web| author = | title= "Sitta" | work= Species Search Results | url= http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMFindResults.asp&hdnAction=SEARCH&hdnPageMode=0&cboFamily=-2&txtGenus=sitta&txtSpecies=&txtCommonName=&cboRegion=-2&cboCountry=-2| publisher= BirdLife International | accessdate=2008-06-21]

A few of the more restricted nuthatch species are threatened by deforestation.
*the White-browed Nuthatch is endangered The population of a few thousand birds is decreasing, and no conservation measures are in place. [IUCN2007|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=20280|title=Sitta victoriae |downloaded= 18 June 2008] cite journal| last= | author = Thet Zaw Naing | coauthors= | month= | year= 2003| title= Ecology of the White-browed Nuthatch "Sitta victoriae" in Natmataung National Park, Myanmar, with notes on other significant species | journal= Forktail | volume= 19 | issue= | pages= p57–62 | url =http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/19pdfs/Naing-Nuhatch.pdf |format = PDF | doi = | quotes = |]
*The endangered Algerian Nuthatch occurs only at four known sites in Algeria, and it is possible that the total population does not exceed 1,000 birds. IUCN2007|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=20276|title=Sitta ledanti|downloaded = 17 June 2008]
*The Yunnan Nuthatch is vulnerable, although still locally common. [IUCN2007|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=20282 |title=Sitta yunnanensis |downloaded= 18 June 2008]
*The Yellow-billed Nuthatch is vulnerable especially on Hainan, where more than 70% of the woodland has been lost in 50 years. [IUCN2007|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=20279 |title=Sitta solangiae |downloaded= 18 June 2008]
*The Krüper's Nuthatch is near-threatened in its stronghold in Turkey, where urbanisation and development for tourism are placing considerable pressure on mature coniferous forest.IUCN2007|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2005|id=51968|title=Sitta krueperi|downloaded= 17 June 2008]

References