In Canada, the Pygmy Nuthatch occurs only in southern British Columbia where it is locally common in ponderosa pine forests (Boyd 2015a). It is not well monitored in Canada, but available data from the Christmas Bird Counts in British Columbia suggest that populations have shown little overall change since the late 1970s. There are ongoing concerns about habitat degradation from past logging activities, forest management and recent insect infestations. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.
Pygmy Nuthatches are closely tied to ponderosa pine forests throughout most of their range. These forests cover less than 1% of British Columbia's land area (Austin and Eriksson 2009), and their quality throughout western North America is thought to have decreased significantly over the past century as a result of logging, fire suppression and other processes (Kingery and Ghalambor 2001). In Canada, there are concerns over the impact of the recent widespread loss of ponderosa pine through pine beetle attack, particularly in the Thompson Valley (Klenner and Arsenault 2009).
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.
