Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta cinnamoventris) [XC473054]
by Pritam Baruah from Baijnath, Uttarakhand, India (call)
Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta cinnamoventris) [XC845130]
by Suniti Bhushan Datta from Back to Nature Eco Resort - Pokhara, Kaski, Gandaki Province, Nepal (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with S. europaea, S. nagaensis, S. cashmirensis, S. castanea and S. neglecta; often treated as conspecific with last two of these, but differs morphologically from both. Overlaps in range with S. nagaensis in parts of north-eastern India and south-eastern Asia, but the two replace each other altitudinally. Birds in south-eastern Bangladesh presumed to belong to this species, rather than to S. castanea. Subspecies almorae intergrades with nominate in east-central Nepal.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
almorae Kinnear & Whistler, 1930 - Foothills of western and central Himalayas from Pakistan (Murree Hills and Azad Kashmir) east to northern India (Himachal Pradesh, extreme northern Haryana and Uttaranchal Pradesh) and east-central Nepal.
cinnamoventris Blyth, 1842 - Foothills from east-central Nepal east to north-eastern India (northern West Bengal and most of Arunachal Pradesh, also hills of Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram), south-eastern Bangladesh (Chittagong Hills), north-eastern Myanmar (south to about Myitkyina) and southern China (R Yingjiang, in extreme western Yunnan).
koelzi Vaurie, 1950 - North-eastern India from south-eastern Arunachal Pradesh (Patkai Range) south to Nagaland and southern Assam (northern Cachar), and adjacent north-western Myanmar.
tonkinensis Kinnear, 1936 - Southern China (southern Yunnan), north-western Vietnam (including Cha Pa, Na Hang, Muong Moun), northern Laos (south to at least Nape) and north-western Thailand (Doi Hua Mot).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet