TWO KINDS OF NUTHATCH

Nuthatches are regular visitors to many bird feeders in the Pinawa area. The White-breasted Nuthatch is found year-round in mature deciduous woods, especially oak, and its numbers are quite stable from year to year. The slightly smaller Red-breasted Nuthatch prefers coniferous woods, and its numbers fluctuate from year to year, due at least partly to varying cone crops. There are good numbers around this winter, as there were last year. The distinctive, jaunty black eye-stripe is often easier to see than the rusty wash on the breast. Both species can perch on tree trunks, where they resemble tiny woodpeckers, but they have the unique ability to perch upside down and traverse a tree from top to bottom. This gives them a different perspective from other birds of the insect life hidden in crevices in the bark. They also use these crevices to jam seeds and nuts in place to hammer them open with that sturdy bill. I must fess up that this illustration is a blend of two photos, taken a few days apart in similar light.

Those deer are getting cheekier by the day!