h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have never seen a Nuthatch. They don't occur here in South Africa at all! But I have a book about them, illustrating all the species, and would love to see one some day. I'm intrigued by their ability to climb down a tree head-downwards, clinging on with their sharp claws, and with their habit of wedging nuts and seeds in crevices and hammering them open. I find them beautiful little birds as well! Interestingly, there's also a particular species called the Beautiful Nuthatch, Sitta formosa, coloured black, white, orange and blue. It is indeed a very beautiful bird amongst other beautiful birds ! This species is rare and poorly known mainly because of the inaccessibility of its habitat in SE Asia. While a few nuthatch species are common and widespread, there are a few others that are very rare:

- The Algerian Nuthatch, Sitta ledanti. Occurs in only four forest sites in Algeria, and the total population less than 2 000 birds.

- The White-browed Nuthatch, Sitta victoriae. This one occurs only on Mount Victoria in Burma. It may be the most endangered nuthatch of all. The forests on the mountain have been extensively destroyed and degraded, and the species receives no effective protection.

Apart from this species there are other endemics on Mount Victoria as well, which would also benefit from protecting this species and these forests.

- The Corsican Nuthatch, Sitta whiteheadi. This species, though not in danger of imminent extinction, is nevertheless rare, at about 2 000 pairs, and needs conservation of its forest habitat.

- The Yellowbilled Nuthatch, Sitta solangiae. Occurs on the island of Hainan, and in Vietnam. Only present in small patches of forests. Humans continue to cut down trees. Again, conservation of the forests in Hainan and Vietnam would save many other species besides this one.

For more info look at this great Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuthatch

Hi, Willem

I love the nuthatches. Ours are generally very smart, but at the moment they are moulting and look very scruffy, and the creep in and out as if they don't want to be seen I have a couple of photos of them but they are very poor as they were taken through double glazing.

It is fascinating to watch them upside down. They hammer peanuts just like woodpeckers, but they are such a lovely shape. They always remind me of the very old fashioned baby feeding bottles, pointed at both ends If I succeed in getting a half decent photo I will send you one. They are very solitary except during the breeding period, but their offspring are independent now so we haven't seen as much of them.

I shall look for the beautiful one, I have not heard of that before.

Websailor

It would be great if you could get nice pictures of nuthatches Websailor! I've never seen a baby-bottle that looks like that! If you have time check out the link - there are pictures of all the species (pictures mostly rather 'stylised'). There are also links to videos! Which I enjoy a lot, being able to see just how active these little birds are.

Like I said, here in South Africa, we have no nuthatches. We don't really have many trees that produce 'nuts'. They're mostly pods or fruits. We have woodpeckers, that eat mostly insects found in wood and bark, and we have barbets, that eat fruit and insects. Do you know about barbets?

<<> No, enlighten me

Websailor

This is the kind of baby bottle that nuthatches remind me of, as they adopt a similar pose so often :

http://www.jsharpe.co.uk/Teat-bottle.gif

It is often difficult to tell which end is which, when the nuthatches are upside down!

Websailor

I've never seen a bottle like that! I'll ask my mom, maybe she has. But I see the resemblance. Have you heard of the pushmi-pullyu?

As for barbets ... very interesting group! They occur in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Tropical America. They are related to woodpeckers, and belong to the same order of birds, the Piciformes. They also have the same kind of feet - two claws facing forwards, two facing backwards - with which they can climb up and down trees. They also excavate nest holes in trees or sometimes river banks or termite hills.

Unlike woodpeckers, they don't have 'stiff' tail feathers to prop them up while they climb. Also they don't climb as much. They will often perch on twigs and branches like regular perching birds, or hop around on the ground. They sometimes hunt for insects in tree bark but they don't hammer trees to get at grubs deep in the wood. Their bills consequently are different - short and rather stout, often with projections or 'teeth' along the margins. Barbets eat insects but will also eat fruit - some are predominantly fruit eaters.

They are also very colourful and beautiful! Here in South Africa, the Halfcollared Barbet has a bright red head bordered with a black collar below and a yellowish belly. The male and female do a 'duet' - a very characteristic call over here! The male goes 'Poo' and the female 'Puddly' and they repeat this over and over. Oh ... and before this, they do a subdued harsh croaking for a while as if they're clearing their throats prior to singing!

The crested barbet is another common species here. About the size of a dove, it is mainly yellow, black and red. I have a photo of a very tame one I saw in the Kruger National park ... will search for it and send it to you if I find it! A very cute individual.

Now ... up till very recently, barbets were all considered as belonging to one family, the Capitonidae. They were considered as being relatives of Toucans, the Ramphastidae. However, with current research into their genes, it was discovered that the toucans could actually more properly be considered a subgroup *within* the barbet grouping! Turns out, toucans are actually the descendants of barbet-like birds, whose bills merely became ridiculously huge. It also turned out toucans are much closer to the new-world barbets than the new world barbets are to the African and Asian barbets. One choice, for reclassifying the barbets, would have been to group all barbets and toucans into a single family, the Ramphastidae. But, because toucans are such a distinctive group, some ornithologists now want to retain the toucan family as excluding the barbets. The only way to do that while also acknowledging the close relationship with the barbets, is to split the new-world barbets off from the others, as the Capitonidae proper. And if that's not enough, it turns out the African barbets form a natural group that is not very closely related to the Asian barbets. So the African and Asian barbets are also classified into separate families - Lybiidae for the African barbets, and Megalaimidae for the Asian barbets. And finally, the Toucan Barbets (also of tropical America) - two species - are placed in a family of their own, the Semnornithidae.

All of this reclassification can seem very confusing, but to me it is fascinating because it reveals that the relationships between groups are much more subtle and complex than we previously supposed! It also helps us achieve a much more nuanced understanding of biodiversity.

Oh and I almost forgot this! Just to pile more confusion on ... in my language, Afrikaans, a woodpecker is called a 'speg'. It comes from an old germanic root. And the thing is, most Afrikaans people have never heard of the word 'speg'. They call a woodpecker a 'houtkapper' which means a 'wood-chopper'. But though most people do that, it's wrong! A 'houtkapper' is in fact the Afrikaans word for 'barbet'. Barbets are more common here than woodpeckers.

As for nuthatches ... their name doesn't occur in any of the Afrikaans-English dictionaries. But I found, on wikipedia, the Dutch name for them which is 'Boomklever' (tree-clinger), which in Afrikaans would be spelled 'Boomklewer'.