Nuthatches, with their long toes and beak, resemble small woodpeckers, but they are not related to them. Unlike true woodpeckers, nuthatches when climbing do not rely on their tails and can climb along tree trunks and branches even head-down! Nuthatches nest in tree hollows, which they do not bore themselves. Because they settle in abandoned hollows that were bored by woodpeckers, we call them secondary cavity-nesters. They communicate with ringing whistles that can be heard quite far away. In Slovenia this family is represented by only one species. As a resident of forests and areas with scattered individual mature trees, the nuthatch is widespread and common here.
