Nuthatch Finds a Morsel

Here's a white-breasted nuthatch. They are common visitors to bird feeders throughout North America. I often see one pick up a seed, fly to a tree, cache the seed in a crevice, and then fly back for more. They also eat insects when they can find them. And they have a quirky way of walking headfirst down trees. 

Found something! Click to enlarge. 

I can't tell what it is, but it looks larval. Good foraging, nuthatch! 

Here's another white-breasted nuthatch striking a more noble pose. Note the cute slightly upturned beak and the pretty red feathers below. 

White-breasted Nuthatches Are Singing

 

I have been seeing and hearing a lot of white-breasted nuthatches in my neighborhood. They are cute little birds with blue-gray on the back, white cheeks, black cap, and a rusty patch on the white belly. It's one of the birds whose distinctive sound stands out in the spring chorus. Click to enlarge.

Males sing in spring to attract mates, using 6-12 nasal-sounding notes that some people hear as ha-ha-ha. Also, both sexes have a call that sounds to me how tiny, fast-talking sheep would bleat, others hear the honk of a little tin horn. Clicking on this sentence will take you to e-bird, where you can select LISTEN to get a list of recordings of the song and call of the white-breasted nuthatch.

New Jersey Parks Open

New Jersey parks opened yesterday with great weather. There are restrictions. Keep your distance, wear face coverings. Parking is limited to half of capacity. If the park is full, come back later or try another. The playgrounds and organized sports areas, picnic areas, visitor centers, and bathrooms are closed. Everyone I passed (from six feet away) was following those guidelines and just enjoying being outside and walking in a park again. 

As Katrina Mayer says: "Time spent among trees is never wasted time."

There's always something to see, like this tufted titmouse.

Or white-breasted nuthatch.

Or an immature red-tailed hawk doing an Exorcist-style 180 degree head turn.

Rachel Carson once said: "There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." Rancocas Creek yesterday on the verge of a new season. 

Click to enlarge.

In the park with my quarantine curls and homemade mask. 

Guardian Crows

The bird feeders at my place are really busy these days. I see lots of chickadees that are, so far, too fast for me to photograph. The tufted titmouse above and all his relatives are busy all day taking seeds from the feeders and stashing them in secret places for later. 

Downy woodpeckers are busy pecking at seeds and suet. 

Here's a female downy waiting and watching. 

I can depend on visits from a few dozens lovely red house finches every day. 

Cute little white-breasted nuthatches flit between feeders and trees, hanging upside down to take seeds and running acrobatically along tree trunks and branches. Click to enlarge. 

All the bird activity attracts hawks. This is an immature red-tailed hawk. 

Its tail isn't red yet, just striped. It sits and watches the little birds at the feeder, looking for an opportunity to catch something tasty. 

But crows are also watching. They keep an eye on the hawks. Yesterday I heard a racket outside and when I looked, half a dozen crows were dive-bombing a red-tailed hawk that was sitting in a tree. When crows harass a predator like this, it's called "mobbing" -- they cooperate to bother the hawk, usually to keep it from messing with their young. The little birds at my feeders benefit, too. Thanks, guardian crows! 

Feeder Style

House finches were hanging around the bird feeders last week in the section of Central Park called the Ramble. Click to enlarge. 

In this picture a few of them are gathered on one of the homemade feeders -- a plastic bottle full of seeds with a hole and a perch on each side. The finches perch, reach in to take a seed, fly away. 

Then this white-breasted nuthatch showed up. 

Perch. Check. Reach in to take a seed? Nope -- it jumped inside and disappeared. 

After a moment it came out the other side, like a fast food drive through. 

A black-capped chickadee showed up. It went in one door and out the other, too. It's a thing!