Endangered
White-browed nuthatch
Sitta victoriae
White-browed nuthatch is a perching bird in the family Sittidae (order Passeriformes) — Sitta victoriae, recorded as Endangered and tied to Myanmar.
Appearance
The white-browed nuthatch is a small nuthatch, measuring 11.5 cm (4.5 in) in length. The tail is 36–37 mm (1.4–1.5 in), the beak is 15–16 mm (0.59–0.63 in), and the tarsus is 14–16 mm (0.55–0.63 in). The upperparts are dull bluish-grey.
The folded wing measures 68–73 mm (2.7–2.9 in) for the male, 67–69 mm (2.6–2.7 in) for the female.
Range and habitat
The white-browed nuthatch is endemic to western Myanmar. It is currently found on Nat Ma Taung in the southern part of the Chin Hills, at nearly 3,070 m (10,070 ft), and 22 km (14 mi) further northwest in the spring of 1995 near Mindat. The white-browed nuthatch avoids the pure pine forests of Pinus kesiya and is found instead in lichen-covered old oak forests of the alpine level.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The first nest cited was dug by the female alone, and its entrance was not walled up with clay, unlike what several other nuthatch species do. Only females seem to feed the young.
Little is known about its ecology, but it feeds on small insects found among bark and lichens, and breeding occurs around April.
In crisis
The population poorly known but is estimated to be a few thousand individuals. It threatened by habitat destruction by fire and human pressure. For these reasons, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers the bird to be an "endangered species." These observations, combined with density and distribution data, indicate a population of 2,500 to 10,000 mature individuals, for a total of 3,500 to 15,000 individuals.
On Nat Ma Taung, the forest has been completely cleared up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), and the remaining habitats at 2,000–2,500 m (6,600–8,200 ft) are severely degraded. Nearly 12,000 people live in Natmataung National Park, and trapping and fires are adding to the threats to the species.
White-browed 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 White-browed nuthatch, Wikidata item Q534380. 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.
