Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

One of the few nuthatches to break the general neutral color scheme of the family, this stunner can be quite common in lowland and foothill evergreen forests. Aquamarine upperparts, crimson bill, and black patch on the forehead make this active little species unmistakable. Forages by creeping along trunks and branches, often upside down. Often moves in groups, frequently as a member of mixed-species flocks. Song is a high-pitched chittering trill; calls like isolated fragments of song.

The velvet-fronted nuthatch is a resident breeder of all types of forests from deciduous to evergreen forest. In the Sunderbans, they are found in Sonneratia mangrove forests. They also live within secondary forest and make use of the shade trees in south Indian coffee plantations.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch feeds mainly on insects and spiders, often caught on tree-trunks and branches where the bird forages often upside-down.