Tuesday, February 09, 2010

White-breasted Nuthatch

At least one White-breasted Nuthatch has figured out what to do with the checks (splits) in the deck posts. Rather than taking a sunflower seed all the way out to a pine or some other tree with rough bark there to wedge it in place before hammering it open with his bill like a woodpecker, this bird uses the cracks in the deck posts.

Now, I can't be sure there is only one White-breasted Nuthatch that has figured this out as they all look the same. But I have only seen one do this at a time despite there being several posts on the deck that could--and have--been used. Conversely, I've seen more than one W-B NH at a time take a seed to the bark of a tree to perform the opening ceremony.

Below I've posted a sequence involving just one Nuthatch for your enjoyment.

Having placed the seed in the crack, the White-Breasted
Nuthatch does a quick inspection.


Finding it not quite to his liking, he makes an adjustment...

...and wedges the seed in more tightly.

He takes another look and then lines it up like a golf putt.

A-N-D....THWACK!!! It's lunch time!

1 comment:

JDP said...

Clever little bird you have there Joated.

JDP