BIRD IN HAND

COLUMN HEADER

My bird of the month is a white-breasted nuthatch, and I took this photo when we lived on our five acres on Hurricane Creek.

There are three species of nuthatches in Wallowa County: Red-breasted, white-breasted and pygmy nuthatches. The red-breasted nuthatches are the most numerous and the white-breasted are the least common, but are the largest of our nuthatches.

I get quite a few nuthatches that come to my sunflower seed feeder here at Alpine House, but the white-breasted ones are by far the fewest. Of course all nuthatches are insect-eaters and can most often be seen coming down a tree trunk upside-down looking for insect eggs that are in the cracks of the bark.

However, they have learned to grab a sunflower seeds, fly to the closest tree and hold it down with one claw to peck out the nutritious kernel.

Some people call nuthatches “upside-down” birds, but the reason they hunt for their food going upside-down is they can locate small insect eggs or larvae in the cracks in the bark that other birds might not be able to see. I have observed nuthatches travelling with chickadees, brown creepers and kinglets pretty high up in the treetops especially in the winter.

Apparently they don’t mind mixed company unlike many species that only fraternize with their own flocks. So if one is lucky to see a white-breasted nuthatch at your sunflower feeder, get out your camera but you will seldom see one come on your back porch like the one I photographed.

Van Blaricom is an avid birdwatcher who resides in Joseph.

The white-breasted nuthatch is fairly rare in Wallowa County.