Habitat
Mature broadleaved forests, open country with scattered trees, middle and upper canopies of large trees draped in mosses, lichens, orchids and other epiphytes. From 1,500 - 2,400 m.
Bhutan (B) (NB), China (mainland) (B) (NB), India (B) (NB), Laos (B) (NB), Myanmar (B), Thailand, Vietnam (B).
North-eastern India (north-eastern West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam), south-western, central and eastern Bhutan, northern, western and eastern Myanmar (eastern Kachin, Mt Sarameti, Arakan Hills, and Salween-Mekong watershed east of Mong Hang), southern China (Huanglianshan Nature Reserve, in southern Yunnan), northern Thailand (Doi Phu Kha National Park, in Nan province), northern and east-central Laos (Annamite range) and northern Vietnam (scattered localities in northern Tonkin).
Population
Estimated population is 2,500 - 9,999 (2010) and decreasing.
Status VU
Forest loss, degradation and fragmentation, through shifting cultivation, locally large-scale timber extraction, overgrazing, burning and wood cutting and hunting, are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Beautiful Nuthatch (Sitta formosa) [XC783496]
by Arnold Meijer from Yot Nam Mo-Tor Sip, forest north of Ban Namngart, Xiangkhouang, Laos (flight call)
Beautiful Nuthatch (Sitta formosa) [XC35432]
by Arnold Meijer from Bompu, Arunachal Pradesh, India (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Relationships obscure. Has been placed in a separate genus, Callisitta. Lustrous blue coloration may suggest an affinity with Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis) and Blue Nuthatch (Sitta azurea), but eastern Himalayan centre of distribution and unique plumage pattern mitigate against this.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet