This fall we\u2019ve been experiencing the rare pleasure of having three different species of Nuthatches around our yard daily. All three \u2013 Brown-headed, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatch \u2013 visit the feeders and forage in the nearby trees, and their calls add spice, and often a comical touch, to the dry sounds of the late-autumn woods. Each of the three is a variation on the theme of Nuthatch \u2013 a small, short-tailed, long-billed family of birds that creep over tree-trunks or branches, often moving downward head first, feeding on insects. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a great opportunity, especially, to observe the Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches, neither of which we\u2019ve ever had around for more than brief visits before now. I\u2019m having fun listening to their calls and trying to learn them well. While the Red-breasted Nuthatch\u2019s most common call is the \u201ctin-horn toot\u201d of ank-ank-ank<\/span>, the White-breasted\u2019s call is deeper, slightly hoarse, and more like cronk, cronk<\/span>. Both make much softer nasal calls while they\u2019re foraging, a very gentle eenh<\/span>, frequently repeated as they creep up and down and over branches. <\/p>\n The more familiar squeaky-dee<\/span> chatter of our year-round resident Brown-headed Nuthatches is probably heard less often than the other two right now, though they still come around at some time every day. When they do, they seem to dominate the other two species, as well as I can tell, and while they\u2019re at the feeders, the others seem to stay out of the way. But in general, all three of the Nuthatch species are pretty bold and even aggressive. I\u2019ve seen a Red-breasted Nuthatch chase a Chickadee away from a feeder several times \u2013 though larger birds like the Titmice aren\u2019t so easily intimidated. On the other hand, I\u2019ve often seen Brown-headed Nuthatches sharing a feeder with Chickadees, Titmice, a Downy Woodpecker and other birds \u2013 maybe because they live here together all year long.<\/p>\n Red-breasted Nuthatches \u2013 with ruddy red breasts, bluish backs and bright white and black stripes over and through the eye \u2013 first showed up here in early October, and since then, at least two have been visiting the feeders regularly, pretty much all day, every day. They also come to the birdbaths, and are less shy when I\u2019m around than most of the other birds. One of them will often come for a drink when I\u2019m sitting only a few feet away, as if it\u2019s just too busy to be bothered by my presence. <\/p>\n When I took down a feeder one morning recently to refill it, one Red-breasted Nuthatch waited in a branch just over my head and as soon as I walked away, it came immediately back to the tray. One sometimes will stay on the hanging block feeder for a long time, mostly hanging upside down and feeding from the bottom of it, snaking its head up to look around frequently. On the tube feeder, they more often grab a bite and fly away with it toward the back yard, where there are several pines, or fly up to one particular stub of a branch to work on whatever seed or nut they have taken. <\/p>\n So I\u2019m having a good time watching them all. I like the small, feisty Red-breasted Nuthatch for its intensity and apparently unwavering focus on food gathering; for the way it\u2019s not shy and will come so close to me; and for its funny ank-ank-ank<\/span> calls that carry like echoes of another time through the pines and the bare gray branches of the woods.<\/p>\n When the Brown-headed Nuthatches arrive, chattering back and forth to each other, they brighten up the whole yard, sounding cheerful and seeming to bring sociability and activity with them. Though I know that\u2019s only my interpretation, it always sounds like a party when they\u2019re around. <\/p>\n The White-breasted Nuthatch \u2013 my favorite right now \u2013 I admire for its beauty and grace, for the elegant lines of the black head and nape against the snow-white of the throat and breast; for the sleek arch of its neck as it looks up, and for the artful way it moves over a branch as it forages, as if the movement itself were a pleasure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This fall we\u2019ve been experiencing the rare pleasure of having three different species of Nuthatches around our yard daily. All three \u2013 Brown-headed, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatch \u2013 visit the feeders and forage in the nearby trees, and their calls add spice, and often a comical touch, to the dry sounds of the late-autumn woods. 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