Velvet-Fronted Nuthatch

The velvet-fronted nuthatch is a small nuthatch, 12 to 13.5 cm long, found in southern Asia from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh east to south-western China and Indonesia. It is violet-blue above with lavender cheeks, buffy grey underparts, yellow eyes, a whitish throat and an orange-red to bright red bill with a black patch on the forehead and lores. Adult males have a black stripe above and behind the eye that females lack (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds on insects in tree bark, and its strongly clawed toes let it climb down trunks or move under horizontal branches. It lives in forests with good tree cover, often in mixed-species foraging flocks, has a rapid chipping call and breeds in tree cavities often made by woodpeckers or barbets (Wikipedia, general species account).