Life Starts Over Again When It Gets Crisp in the Fall
Life Starts Over Again When It Gets Crisp in the Fall
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Nuthatch:
A common bird with clean black, gray, and white markings, White-breasted Nuthatches are active, agile little birds with an appetite for insects and large, meaty seeds. They get their common name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside.
White-breasted Nuthatches may be small, but their voices are loud, and often their insistent nasal yammering will lead you right to them.
The White-breasted Nuthatch is normally territorial throughout the year, with pairs staying together. The male has to spend more time looking out for predators when he’s alone than while he’s with his mate. That’s the pattern for most birds, and one reason why birds spend so much time in flocks.
In winter, White-breasted Nuthatches join foraging flocks led by chickadees or titmice, perhaps partly because it makes food easier to find and partly because more birds can keep an eye out for predators.
If you see a White-breasted Nuthatch making lots of quick trips to and from your feeder – too many for it to be eating them all – it may be storing the seeds for later in the winter, by wedging them into furrows in the bark of nearby trees.
The oldest known White-breasted Nuthatch was at least 9 years, 9 months old when it was found in Colorado in 1971.
(Nikon, 500 mm + TC 1.4, 1/400 @ f/5.6, ISO 700, edited to taste)
Life Starts Over Again When It Gets Crisp in the Fall
Life Starts Over Again When It Gets Crisp in the Fall
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Nuthatch:
A common bird with clean black, gray, and white markings, White-breasted Nuthatches are active, agile little birds with an appetite for insects and large, meaty seeds. They get their common name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside.
White-breasted Nuthatches may be small, but their voices are loud, and often their insistent nasal yammering will lead you right to them.
The White-breasted Nuthatch is normally territorial throughout the year, with pairs staying together. The male has to spend more time looking out for predators when he’s alone than while he’s with his mate. That’s the pattern for most birds, and one reason why birds spend so much time in flocks.
In winter, White-breasted Nuthatches join foraging flocks led by chickadees or titmice, perhaps partly because it makes food easier to find and partly because more birds can keep an eye out for predators.
If you see a White-breasted Nuthatch making lots of quick trips to and from your feeder – too many for it to be eating them all – it may be storing the seeds for later in the winter, by wedging them into furrows in the bark of nearby trees.
The oldest known White-breasted Nuthatch was at least 9 years, 9 months old when it was found in Colorado in 1971.
(Nikon, 500 mm + TC 1.4, 1/400 @ f/5.6, ISO 700, edited to taste)