#Redbreasted Nuthatch

[ostdrossel]

As someone from the middle of Germany,

I have always loved having four seasons, and Michigan is a great place to be with that. I can see beauty in all four of them, and it is lovely to have them all here. Snow days are fun because there is a bit more activity at feeders, and I love the pale background for photos too. The birds are all slightly more agitated as well, which can produce some fun shots. Here are some from today. It is wonderful to see more of the Titmouse again. The Goldfinches are still quite vibrant, and having the King of the Yard over is always a treat.

[dumbbirdsfieldguide]

Red Breasted Butt-Hunch This little bird is a crazy person. I’m not kidding. It’s all over the place; it runs around frantically in coniferous trees looking for food, in and out of bark crevices, over branches, bobbing around on tree trunks and pinecones like there’s no difference between up and down. It’s enough to make you feel nuts. Also, that fucking nasal call: YANK, YANK, YANK. God.

Description: Really small, blue-gray with a rusty breast, black and white head pattern. Tail is too short for its body, if you ask me.

[hamoudablog]

Red-breasted Nuthatch by Tim Melling I remember back in 1989 dashing down to Holkham in Norfolk to see a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) that had appeared on the wrong side of the Atlantic. It is still the sole British record and created controversy because they are only short-distance migrants, not usually straying south beyond the United States. They are quite common in North America and I have seen many in the years since the British individual. They are called "red-breasted" to distinguish them from the widespread North American White-breasted Nuthatch (S.carolinensis), but in Britain all Nuthatches have breasts this colour. Red-breasted differs mostly from Eurasian Nuthatch by its small size and humbug head pattern. European Nuthatches are 14cm long and usually weigh about 23g. Red-breasted Nuthatches are 11cm long, but weigh a minuscule 10g. I took this photograph at the George C Reifel reserve near Vancouver and I was pleased because it shows the classic Nuthatch position of facing down the trunk. I think Nuthatches are the only birds that habitually move down the trunk while facing downwards. All other tree trunk birds like Treecreepers and Woodpeckers face upwards.. Original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36611483@N03/48912435891

[hepatosaurus]

national poetry month, day 29

The Word We ride up softly to the hidden oval in the woods, a plateau rimmed with wavy stands of gray birch and white pine, my horse thinking his thoughts, happy in the October dapple, and I thinking mine-and-his, which is my prerogative, both of us just in time to see a big doe loft up over the four-foot fence, her white scut catching the sun and then releasing it, soundlessly clapping our reveries shut. The pine grove shudders as she passes. The red squirrels thrill, announcing her departure. Come back! I want to call to her, we mean you no harm. Come back and show us who stand pinned in stopped time to the track how you can go from a standing start up and over. We on our side, pulses racing, are synchronized with you racing heart. I want to tell her, Watch me mornings when I fill the cylinders with sunflower seeds, see how the chickadees and lesser redbreasted nuthatches crowd onto my arm, permitting me briefly to stand in for a tree, and how the vixen in the bottom meadow I ride across allows me under cover of horse scent to observe the education of her kits, how they dive for the burrow on command, how they re-emerge at another word she uses, a word I am searching for. —Maxine Kumin

[ariannblack]

A close relative to yesterday’s bird the red-breasted nuthatch. They are a funny little birds and little to hang upside down. I am so use to seeing the whitebreasted that I didn’t realize until now I had caught a redbreasted. This one was in the park near the township. #nature #adventure #nuthatchesofinstagram #explorecanada #tourismmsnitoba #redbreastednuthatch #ridingmountainnationalpark #nuthatch #birdsofinstagram #parkscanada #beautifulbirds #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #naturelovers #natgeoyourshot #lovecbcmb #exploremanitoba #bird #birds #birdphotography #birdwatching #birder #bird_watchers_daily #bird_lovers #bird_lovers_daily #audubon #audubonsociety #optoutdoors #canadianwildlife #live_love_wildlife (at Riding Mountain National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt1RnLkHlV8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1hm09mjszu817

[g-raynard]

Mary Oliver:    "Winter and the Nuthatch" 

Nobody owns the sky or the trees. Nobody owns the hearts of birds.

Redbreasted Nuthatch Bird Eggs

[callmewinged]

The Word–Maxine Kumin We ride up softly to the hidden oval in the woods, a plateau rimmed with wavy stands of gray birch and white pine, my horse thinking his thoughts, happy in the October dapple, and I thinking mine-and-his, which is my prerogative, both of us just in time to see a big doe loft up over the four-foot fence, her white scut catching the sun and then releasing it, soundlessly clapping our reveries shut. The pine grove shivers as she passes. The red squirrels thrill, announcing her departure. Come back! I want to call to her, we who mean you no harm. Come back and show us who stand pinned in stopped time to the track how you can go from a standing start up and over. We on our side, pulses racing are synchronized with your racing heart. I want to tell her, Watch me mornings when I fill the cylinders with sunflower seeds, see how the chickadees and lesser redbreasted nuthatches crowd onto my arm, permitting me briefly to stand in for a tree, and how the vixen in the bottom meadow I ride across allows me under cover of horse scent to observe the education of her kits, how they dive for the burrow on command, how they re-emerge at another word she uses, a word I am searching for. Its sound is o-shaped and unencumbered, the see-through color of river, airy as the topmost evergreen fingers and soft as pine duff underfoot where the doe lies down out of sight; take me in, tell me the word.

[snailkites]

Are redbreasted nuthatches common in Virginia?

Not super common, but they do occur here. This past year they’ve been more common than normal. Here’s the eBird map of RBNU sighting density in the US for all years:

As you can see, the density is way higher in Canada (and they are, after all, Sitta canadensis!)

Here’s a map of sightings in VA in the past year:

For comparison, here’s the 2015 map:

You can see just from these that they’re turning up in a lot more places than normal!

[ostdrossel]

Happy National Bird Day!

I hope you all got to watch some of our wonderful feathered friends today and got entertained by their antics. It has been another quiet day in my yard and I wonder if the Nuthatches, of which there is a good little number, are happy they get to collect and cache so much stuff without any competition. The Redbreasted are one of my favorites. Tame, vocal & aborbable. I think here we have a female, her dark stripe on the head looks more grey than black.

[ostdrossel]

I am loving the tree cam, it has the most interesting stuff in my yard currently. Here's a little medley from the last couple of weeks.

(ID list: Blackcapped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, European Starlings, Whitebreasted Nuthatch, Redbreasted Nuthatch, Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-Shinned Hawk, American Tree Creeper / Brown Creeper, Flying Squirrel, Grey Squirrels in Black mutation, Darkeyed Juncos, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Redbellied Woodpecker)

[ostdrossel]

Nothing too exciting happening this week, but a group of Pine Siskins showed up yesterday. They only visit my yard every other year, and it seems like it's either them or Redbreasted Nuthatches, which I have not seen this winter.⁠

[ostdrossel]

The end of November

is usually marked here by plenty of visits from Nuthatches (White and Redbreasted), woodpeckers, Bluebirds, Chickadees and the regulars (MoDo, Blue Jay, Cardi, House Finches), but this year, bird activity is low with mostly the regulars. I guess there’s plenty to eat in the north so less have migrated. But there have been lots of feisty Goldfinches here lately. Come on, winter!

[ostdrossel]

I love the morning light on the tree setup. There was some nice activity this morning and yesterday in the evening. (Robin, Flicker, Redbreasted Nuthatch with bonus squirrel, Grackle)

[ostdrossel]

When nothing much

is going on, there’s still some activity apart from the MoDos. I call them the tiny crowd, and they are usually the first to greet me when I open the buffet in the morning. I often just stand ofr a bit to watch them, and they just make me smile. There’s two kinds of Nuthatches - the very human-friendly teensy Redbreasted and the more shy but equally diligent Whitebreasted. You can tell male and females apart by the color of the broad center stripe on their head. Males have a jetblack one, females more grey. Also belonging to the tiny crowd - the choir in the back, friendly Chickadees and Titmice. Come good into Wednesday!

[ostdrossel]

After a summery weekend,

we got snow flurries today. The garden is waking up everywhere but things still feel odd because there are no nesting Bluebirds. I have decided to pull the nest today, since there is no sign of any nesting activity. Interestingly enough, a male and a female BB have showed up to feed. There are still some Redbreasted Nuthatches around, and a couple of Chickadees are showing a lot of interest in my other nestbox.

[ostdrossel]

Redbreasted Nuthatches

are one of my favorite fall visitors. They are constantly busy, have practically no fear of humans and make the funniest little sounds. They are so fast that it can be hard to tell if you have a male or a female in front of you. These photos show their difference. The male has a jetblack “hat” while the female sports a grayish top. (Top two here show a male, bottom two a female.)