LIFE'S BETTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Monday, January 26, 2009

At the Feeder

One of my favorite birds is the nuthatch. We have Red-breasted Nuthatches only occasionally. The White-breasted Nuthatches spend the winter with us, and we see them often.

They are very skittish and grab seeds and run. But we love seeing them for whatever time they stay.


This nuthatch waits in the trees for the feeder to clear.


He stops for a drink of water first.


Then he has a little snack and then takes off again.
While they don't remain at the feeders for very long, we do enjoy watching their antics in the trees. What a fun bird.

21 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

It's funny, but last winter I had several RBN's at my feeders but this year none.

Coffee with Cathy said...

So glad I found your blog. Love it! Thanks for sharing your birds with us this morning -- a great way to start off the week.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Our White-breasted Nuthatch does the same thing...He zips in, grabs a seed and zips out!!!! I've never seen a Red-breasted one--but Shelley has a neat one on her today's post.

Hugs,
Betsy

Shelley said...

You got him in some nice poses! I love their "Busyness!"
The ones at my cabin are becoming used to me - so as long as I stay about 10 feet away, they will settle down.

Cedar ... said...

Here in northern NY we have both the red-breasted and the larger white-breasted nuthatches. Such fun to watch, i call them the "up-side-down birds" because they are always walking down tree trunks.

Kerri Farley said...

Oh, they are definitely one of my favorites!!

George said...

You got some great pictures of the nuthatch. They are fun to watch and so very quick.

Kim said...

I have not had any nut hatches at my feeder since November.

The red breasted nut hatches have never been in my yard as far as I know.

Great pictures.

Cheryl said...

I love the nuthatch.....we have them here and they are similar to yours. They are a delightful little bird.......wonderful captures......

Dog_geek said...

We have lots of red-breasted nuthatches, and they aren't skittish here at all. In fact, they are quite pushy. they are the last birds to fly away when I walk up, and they yell at me from a few feet away as I am re-filling their feeders.

TatteredSpinner said...

I love your pictures; we used to have quite an active bird feeder life, nuthatches and all, but it didn't take long for the neighborhood cats to peg down right where we were. No more birds now...

Unknown said...

Great Nuthatch pictures.
They are such cute little birds!

Unknown said...

With my ever growing habitat, I just witnessed my first nuthatch on my property this past summer. I'm enjoying learning the new birds that visit.

KB said...

We have 3 kinds of nuthatch here in Colorado: White breasted, red breasted, and pygmy. The pygmy nuthatches are my favorites. They're very small and agile. And, the books say that large numbers of them will crowd into a birdhouse to keep warm in very cold weather. I've never seen it but it's a cozy vision.

We have a whole bunch of nest boxes with the right size holes for nuthatches but only chickadees use them during breeding season. I'm not sure why.

Tina said...

They are fun to watch and they are quick..especially if you have a camera in your hands! lol

mon@rch said...

These guys have a great personality whenever photographed! Bravo!

Jayne said...

Boy, they surely don't! Grab a seed and zoooooom... they're gone! :c) Good captures Carolyn.

Ruth said...

I have RBNHs (2) year round in my yard. They will stay withing a foot of my hand, but I have not yet been able to feed them. I have found very tame nuthatches who will hand feed. I love their little honk honk noise.

The Birdlady said...

Aren't they just too cute? You got the perfect pose in the first one.

Miranda Bell said...

I've just found your blog and what beautiful photos... amazing your nuthatches are a bit different to those we have in France... I was delighted to see ours again after he hadn't been seen during 2008 at all and now a regular feeder at the bird table and v. excited to see him pecking around the hole in one of my nesting boxes... so to have a little family in the garden would be great... take a look... http://jardinmiranda.blogspot.com/2009/01/our-nuthatch-returns.html - Miranda

Mary said...

Gee I miss them this winter. I wonder where they went?