Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch

The chestnut-bellied nuthatch is a sturdy, short-tailed climbing bird with blue-grey upperparts, a strong dark eye-stripe and rich chestnut underparts. It closely resembles the Burmese nuthatch but has a heavier bill, matching shades on crown and mantle, silvery edges to the primaries and large white spots in the tail. White on the ear-coverts does not extend onto the chin, separating it from the Indian nuthatch (Rasmussen and Anderton 2005, as summarised on Wikipedia).

Under current taxonomy its confirmed range lies along the Himalayan foothills from northern Pakistan and India through Nepal and Bhutan to northeastern India, rather than Vietnam. It uses dry and moist subtropical forest at low and montane elevations. Birds climb trunks and large branches in all directions, using powerful feet to inspect bark crevices. This profile is retained as general species information because the site's Vietnam record may reflect an older, broader chestnut-bellied nuthatch concept that included the now-separated Burmese nuthatch (Wikipedia, general species account).