Nuthatch

Sitta europaea

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sittidae
Presence in the Strait: Resident
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Trepador azul

Photograph: Frank Vassen, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 14 cm
Weight: 22 g

Presence in the Strait

Resident in cork oak woods. Towards the end of the ‘80s it was limited to the NE of the area; in 1991 it was seen at El Picacho (Alcalá de los Gazules), rapidly expanding throughout the “Los Alcornocales” Natural Park until it reached the South in 1993.

Identification

Bluish-grey upperparts and buffish-white underparts with rich chestnut flanks. White ear-coverts and throat; black eye-stripe. Whistling call «juit, juit, juit...».

Movements

Sedentary with some dispersal movements. TICHODROMADIDAE

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

12 %

Peak in September. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 3 February 1989
Latest record: 31 December 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: LC · Least concern · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sittidae
GBIF taxon key: 2484916

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Frank Vassen, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Nuthatch

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Gallery