Western Rock Nuthatch

A Felsenkleiber ( Sitta neumayer )

It is the Felsenkleiber ( Sitta neumayer ) differ from the eastern Kleiberarten almost only by the absence of the white underside of tail and the voice. He produced a series of sloping whistling. Also, the habitat is different, because the Felsenkleiber is the only Nuthatch climbing on rocks. The bird looks overall very pale and the young birds are still dull in color than their parents. These animals show little fear of humans.

Dissemination of the subspecies

The nominate ssp. neumayer lives in southeastern Europe. On Lesbos and in western Turkey comes ssp. zarudnyi ago. The subspecies ssp. syriaca inhabited the southern Turkey, Syria and northern Israel. From Turkey to the western and northern Iran is ssp. rupicola represented, in central Iran ssp. tschitscherini as well as in southern Iran ssp. plumbea.

Habitat

During the breeding season the birds are found in rock walls, boulders strewn slopes, to ruins and Erdabbrüchen on the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean. In winter you can see the Felsenkleiber in orchards.

Reproduction

The males begin in March with her barely listening to singing. Late March to early April, the couple begins to build their nest, which takes about 10 days to complete. Is there a natural rock cave, the animals corroborate the entrance to up to a narrow loophole. On rough or smooth walls they build, however, a cup-shaped nest of mud and saliva. This mortar is later so hard that you can not open with your hands and hardly use the knife to nests. You can find them again partially even decades later. Every now and then in favorable angles many different nests from the past to find. Very rare nests are made in trees. The nest is soft on the inside and covered with moss, wool and especially springs and, remarkably, with mice hair that comes from crumbled Eulengewöll lined. The 4-8 eggs are incubated by the female 14 to 15 days in April. The young leave the nest only when they are fully capable of flight. They are then supplied a few days by the parents.

Food

Insects and spiders are fetched from crevices and fouling of the rocks. In the fall of various fruits and seeds are on the menu.