Nuthatches They are always in motion, never stopping... running up a tree, heading down and circling around, flying back and forth to the feeder grabbing a seed, to eat or cache for later in the winter. They are busy in the fall building up their cache, each spot containing only one or two items. When opening a seed, or nut, the nuthatch pushes it into a crevice in the bark and hacks it open. Presumably their name is derived from this behavior. You usually see only one at a time but there must be at least two of them since they live in pairs in a permanent territory.
Since they won't ever hold still for a photo you have to be quick with your trigger finger. It's fun watching their swift undulating flight. Their rapid nasal call is probably familiar to most of us.Together with the Chickadee and Titmouse they are our favorite backyard birds.
Look at those amazing long claws that grip the tree and allow to run upside down.
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This morning I went to an area on the West River to check on the Hooded Mergansers that I had seen there recently, but the water was frozen solid, and no bird in sight. Here are some photos from a previous trip:
Hooded Merganser pair and Canada Goose
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Source of information on Nuthatch behavior: Cornell's Birds of North America online
