Friday 9 September 2011

Nuthatch.


The delightful Nuthatch is a much neglected bird, and yet he is probably as common in our European gardens as the Sparrow. He runs up and down tree trunks rather like a Treecreeper, and, if one is patient, can be tamed much like a Robin.

This Chestnut pole rests against a wild hazel nut tree just behind my house, and I came across a Nuthatch wedging this nut into one of its small knot-holes. 

I'm always finding old empty hazel nut shells, with holes in them, but for some reason had never associated them with Nuthatches. I'd always thought they were the results of mouse activity.

The bird returned a while after I'd gone, and finished his task; I later found the empty shell lying just beneath.

A really nice little bird to have in the garden.

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16 comments:

  1. that's amazing , I never thought it of a nuthatch , one of my favorite birds.Linda

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  2. A cute little guy. As regards your comment On my post I agree and tend to support England, Wales and the All Blacks - as to who will win - no idea.
    For some reason I couldn't comment on my own blog.

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  3. A few weeks ago I noticed two birds in our garden that I couldn't identify. Stealing my hazelnuts. I was thrilled to discover they were Nuthatches as I'd never seen them before. Fascinating little birds.

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  4. Linda and Susan Heather. You are obviously both having posting problems. Have you both tried changing your search engine to Google Chrome (or similar). It's very easy to download and you'll find that everything works, and much faster than before.... Just an idea!

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  5. I used to visit an elderly couple who lived on the edge of Dartmoor and had a bird feeder attached to their kitchen window with suckers The nuthatches came right in to feed from it. I love seeing them. They're among my favourite birds.

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  6. Another little bird I did not know about, when i was in the Uk I was so thrilled to see a Woodpecker and the Robins were so beautiful...I had only known about Woody Woodpecker lol.

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  7. a little bruiser of a bird.. I often watch them at my brother's house!

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  8. We get nuthatches in Ontario. My gran used to call them "ass ups" because they seem to spend as much time upside down as right side up.

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  9. He's a beauty, and obviously, not just a pretty face. Smart, too, to have his way with that hazelnut.

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  10. One of my favorite garden birds. A family nested in my birdhouse a few years ago, and one morning all the babies decided to tumble out before being quite ready to fly. The cats were immediately on fowl-prowl, so I scooped up each bundle of fledgling feather and tucked them back up into their wee home.

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  11. I just saw a lithograph showing this bird on Antiques Roadshow last night. We all commented on it as it was so lovely. My hubby looked it up in one of his many bird books and this is what we decided it was.

    Much prettier than the sparrow.

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  12. Very pretty. It looks like a finch and a woodpecker, sort of. Neat little trick it does!

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  13. Yes, I am on Google Chrome - it is usually fine .

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  14. We have Nuthatches here too. I love them, but didn't know that little piece of info, but makes sense that a Nuthatch would hatch open a nut!!!

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  15. We have those red-breasted nuthatches here in Canada too. When we had our house, we left out sunflower seeds for them. And they obliged us by coming by, often, for a good meal.

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  16. Nuthatches are my favorite, favorite little bird with their little tin horn call. One ate out of my hand once in its eagerness to get the sunflower seeds. I would stand all day with my hand out if they would do that again.

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