Endangered
Giant Nuthatch
Sitta magna
Giant Nuthatch is a perching bird in the family Sittidae (order Passeriformes) — Sitta magna, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The upperparts are dark bluish-grey, with the crown, nape, and upper mantle much lighter grey and somewhat streaked with black, varyingly between individuals, regardless of sex. The underparts are light grey, with almost white cheeks and throat, and the belly is more or less washed with cinnamon. The undertail coverts are rufous, with large white spots.
It is the longest of the nuthatches, measuring 19.5 cm (7.7 in) in length. Two subspecies are distinguished, S. M. Magna and S. M. Ligea, differing mainly in length and width of the beak.
Range and habitat
The giant nuthatch mainly appreciates pine forests, but can also be found in more open environments, foraging for food from one small tree to another. In Thailand, it is found in the middle of oak and chestnut forests, among that mature large Benguet pine are frequent on the ridge tops. It lives at medium to high altitudes: in China, it generally inhabits forests well above 1,000 m (3,280 ft), up to at least 3,350 m (10,990 ft). In Myanmar, it is reported from 1,220 m (4,000 ft) to 1,830 m (6,000 ft), and in Thailand from 1,200 m (3,940 ft) to 1,800 m (5,910 ft).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
On 4 April 1933, a nest was found in southern Shan State with three young, half-feathered. On 8 April 1983, another nest containing 3 hatchlings was found in north-western Thailand.
It was located in a hollow oak about 8 m tall and 25 cm thick, with the nest entrance about 3 m off the ground. In 1998, another nest was reported in Thailand, found at the end of March in the trunk of a Benguet pine and containing hatchling.
In crisis
The giant nuthatch is threatened by the destruction of its habitat, and is very local in occurrence. The population is difficult to assess and seems to have been overestimated, so in 2013 the International Union for Conservation of Nature changed its status from "vulnerable" to "endangered". The giant nuthatch is rare in China, with declining populations, but fairly established in Yunnan.
Massive logging has been banned from most forests, but logging for pine resin and firewood remains a major cause of the destruction of old trees. The giant nuthatch has been seen in live animal markets before, but poaching is likely a marginal threat.
Giant Nuthatch is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Giant Nuthatch, Wikidata item Q1060987. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
