Flying the Nuthatch Home

Once spanning nearly 6 million acres in Missouri's Ozarks, the shortleaf pine and oak woodland ecosystem has dwindled to 100,000 acres today. Along with the loss of this habitat, a bird—the brown-headed nuthatch—disappeared as well. However, after decades of woodland restoration, the brown-headed nuthatch has returned to Missouri—by plane. Over two summers in 2020 and 2021, a team of scientists successfully captured and flew 102 birds from Arkansas to Missouri, marking the bird’s return to the state after being locally extinct since 1907. Weighing in at a mere one-third of an ounce, approximately the combined weight of a nickel and a quarter, the return of the brown-headed nuthatch is nevertheless a weighty event. Related Research: Effects of Pine-oak Woodland Restoration on Breeding Bird Densities in the Ozark-Ouachita Interior Highlands (2019) Site Occupancy of Brown-headed Nuthatches Varies with Habitat Restoration and Range-limit Context (2015) Resource Configuration and Abundance Affect Space use of a Cooperatively Breeding Resident Bird (2014) Scientists: Frank Thompson, Research Wildlife Biologist, Northern Research Station, Columbia, Missouri Jody Eberly, Wildlife Biologist/Fire Mgmt. Officer (Retired), Mark Twain National Forest, Rolla, Missouri Angelina Trombley, Wildlife Biologist, Mark Twain National Forest, Doniphan, Missouri We used the following recordings from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: ML180391131 (Milton Hobbs, Georgia, USA), ML225986 (Bob McGuire, Florida, USA) & ML unknown (Andrew Spencer, Florida, USA) Produced by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. Want more information? Visit us at https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/products/multimedia/podcasts/forestcast-special-episode-flying-nuthatch-home Questions or ideas for the show? Connect with Jon at: jonathan.yales@usda.gov