Noisy Nuthatches

Oh, is it February already? Guess I'd better keep my promise to resume the blog. Things are still quite hectic but all is well. What a spring it will be when everyone is back to whatever passes for normal.

Like most of North Carolina, we have had some severe weather with huge snow storms, freezing rain and ice. Unfortunately, we are expecting another episode for the weekend. The TarHeel basketball team can't seem to get it together so hopes are dim for a good year for them. Fortunately we have movies to watch and some really great books to read. How convenient that some of my favorite authors have come out with new books this winter. Right now I am mostly finished with Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves and it definitely proves her first book (The Historian) was not a "one-hit" wonder. A great plot with interesting characters and while totally different from her first book it is equally well-written and absolutely fascinating.

We have enjoyed watching the backyard birds eating us out of house and home. One of our most vocal birds this time of year is the White-breasted Nuthatch. Among our earliest nesters, they have already been searching houses and cavities. I don't recall these rituals so early, but clearly they are getting an early start this year.

The nuthatches checked out his very house last year and decided against it. I do hope they will use it this year but only time will tell.

I'm hoping to do more reading of your own blogs as we approach better times. I'll likely spend quite a few hours catching up because I truly am interested in finding out what's going on in your lives.

HEY! The sun is shining!

The Birds Don't Seem To Mind

When we lived in the Milwaukee suburbs, rainy days were bleak indeed and I hated them. I drove more than 20 miles to work on three of the ugliest freeways you can imagine. Everything in my path was the same color of gray...the road, the sky, and the concrete barriers lining the freeway.

Even at home, the birds deserted us when it rained, searching for safer and drier areas. We had large trees the birds visited in the rain, but they were across the expansive lawn and the birds were not easily visible from our house.

Here in North Carolina, we live in the woods right alongside the birds. We have the added joy of watching them when it rains. We put squirrel baffles over most of our bird feeders and the birds seem to flock to these. They serve nicely as rain bubbles. The uncovered feeders also welcome a lot of visitors.

There is never a time in which we look out and fail to see a Tutfted Titmouse. We had several breeding pairs nesting in our boxes and woods and many of them are still around.

The rain seems to have flattened this guy's tuft, but he doesn't mind.

This little goldfinch was so puffed up I feared it might be ill. But I watched it for several minutes and it was fine...just a bit chilly in this photograph.

We seem to see our Red-bellied Woodpeckers more often this fall. Perhaps there are more of them around. I do know they had two broods of young this year.

And we have had White-breasted Nuthatches galore! Several breeding pairs shared our woods and delighted us with their antics.

Rain in North Carolina is ever so much better than rain in Wisconsin, especially in the fall. For one thing, NC has more sunny days than gray ones in the fall and winter. Rain and fog may last a short while and then out comes the sun. In WI, it stays gray FOREVER. The second wonderful thing about rain in NC is that it actually stays rain for the most part. There's hardly such as thing as winter rain in WI. In winter it's sleet at best making those gray ugly roads icy. At worst, it's 15 inches of snow!!!

In addition to watching the birds, I've been able to get some knitting done and read several books. Other than wet dogs and dirty dog towels, rain is welcome here.

I've Got Jayne's Goldfinches

Jayne has been lamenting the lack of Goldfinches at her house this summer. Well Jayne, I think they have decided to hang around our house. We have seen many more goldfinches than usual with dozens of fledglings hopping about learning to feed themselves at our feeders.


The goldfinches are hanging around the sunflower hearts with one another.

They are hanging out around the sunflower with the cardinals.

They are hanging out with the chickadees.

They are hanging out in the trees awaiting a turn at the feeders.

Boys as well as girls.

They are hanging out around the birdbath on the deck.

They are hanging out with the towhees.

They are hanging out with the nuthatches.

Isn't it amazing how the birds are so prolific in one area and relatively uncommon in another area nearby? Or very common one year and not the next? None of our neighbors are seeing as many goldfinches as we are. For whatever reason, we are delighted to see these lovely yellow birds.

Nuthatches and the Nesting Box

Various bird houses hang from the trees throughout the woods at our house. At the end of the season we clean all the bird houses and leave them in place for the winter. One of the houses apparently got used after we cleaned it. This house is favored by the Chickadees.

On Monday I looked out to see a White-breasted Nuthatch coming and going at the bird house. What a surprise.

She came out of the house with her mouth totally full of nesting material.


She struggled at times to get the big globs through the opening.

She carried them to the tree trunk.

Both of the nuthatches worked. Here they are passing something from one to the other.

The pieces of material were placed on a branch near the tree trunk. Methodically, the two nuthatches flew from the bird house to the tree and back. The gentle wind kept blowing the material from the branches as it accumulated.

This bird stopped what she was doing and looked straight at me and the camera. Then she resumed her work.

After removing quite a bit of material, the nuthatch began tucking the material under the eaves of the bird house.

I watched for a very long time as the nuthatch went about her job. She definitely had a plan.

To our amusement, the nuthatches worked all day long to clean out the bird house. Taking short breaks to eat or drink, they kept on working. At the end of the afternoon, the bird house looked like this:

They left lots of nesting material tucked under the eaves. Then they pulled more material to cover the opening. I've never seen such a sight. On Tuesday morning, one of the nuthatches returned and I looked forward to another fun day of watching. She removed all the material from inside the house. Then she took the stuffing from under the eaves, leaving the bird house totally clean.

Neither of the nuthatches has been seen entering or leaving the bird house since Tuesday. I wonder what they are thinking.

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.

Birds at the Feeder

We are in the midst of a heat wave. It's hot and sticky and the air is stagnant and still. There are several groups of people who have my sympathy in this weather. Obviously, the people who have no air conditioning and/or who have to work outside paving or roofing. I also feel sorry for the families who have come to the "cool" mountains to camp, only to find the temperatures reaching the 90s and the rivers too low to do much tubing. I feel sorry for the kids in our many summer camps whose parents have paid several thousand dollars for them to attend camp in the mountains. And I REALLY feel sorry for the camp counselors who have to contend with these kids who are hot and perhaps a bit whiney.

As for me...well, it's not all that bad. Being retired we have the luxury of doing very little. I've been reading The Sisters, The Saga of the Mitford Family, a biography by Mary Lovell. It's quite fascinating. And I've done a little knitting. And I've done a lot of birdwatching without hiking to find the birds. Here are some of our common birds at the feeders.

There's almost always an American Goldfinch.

cAnd a Carolina Chicadee

The Towhee is rather unusual at birdfeeders, but we have one that visits almost every day.

These three seem to be getting along fairly well.

And these two little Titmice seem to be having fun dropping seeds and watching them fall. I have no idea what they are thinking.

And finally, a rather tired-looking White-breasted Nuthatch. This summer of nest building, egg laying, hatching and feeding has taken its toll.

I hope your weather is much better than mine. If not, I hope you have some leisure to just enjoy the birds and stay cool.