First, it helps to know I am speaking from Alabama. Northern Alabama, just about 20 miles south of the Tennessee River. The setting is a residential area with some old oaks and pine trees clustered around a few homes, including mine.
I have seen nuthatches here before. I have become fascinated by the smaller Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sitta pusilla.
Since most of my birding days have been in northern or western climates this is a relatively new bird for me.
This little nuthatch is more the size of a chickadee than the white-breasted nuthatch that I am more familiar with. It favors pine forests in the Southeast US. There are about 5 tall pine trees in my neighbor’s yard and one snag that once was a water oak. I believe it is nesting in one of the cavities in the snag.
According to the information at All About Birds, the Cornell University site,
The Brown-headed Nuthatch may sleep in a tree cavity or in the open on pine branches. The female or the breeding pair roosts in the nest cavity before the eggs are laid and throughout the nestling period.
They also may share their nest space with other brown-headed nuthatches, though no one knows yet if they are last year’s young or how they are connected.
I found it fascinating to learn that they sometimes will use a small piece of bark to life another section of barck in search of food. I have observed other nuthatches stuffing sunflower seeds into cracks of tree bark as a food cache so this makes sense to me too. I also like the fact that they are so close I do not even need to use binoculars for a terrific view.
Standing in the field at the organic farm where I work part-time in Northern Alabama, about 20 miles south of the Tennessee River along the I-65 corridor, I am always aware of the train schedule. The tracks are across the road from the field.
This season the chickens are running free range and covering a much wider territory closer to the fields where we grow produce. But not in them. On this day they were very active close to the barn and house.
I looked up. There was my reward. Soaring above was a solitary bald eagle just a little north of our field. As it soared on the thermal current spiraling upwards I observed its white head with each return until the Bald Eagle soared above the clouds and out of sight. I had no binoculars on me and my spotting scope was in the trunk of my car. So the entire magical moment was a naked eye sighting. My favorite kind. Perhaps my most common viewing of wildlife is without assistance. It is often just noticing something different and focusing my attention on it. This is what birding and birdwatching is about for me. Taking moments from each day and appreciating the aerial escapades of whatever birds I happen upon.
Of course when I have my binoculars (Bushnell compact) or my spotting scope (also Bushnell) I can spend a little more time exploring the details of the scene and the bird. Those are the times when I wish I had a Swarovski spotting scope and Leupold Katmai Compact binoculars with me. That day shall come my way but it must wait until some household essentials are purchased first. In the meantime I share the joy of birding with you today, another magnificent sunny (that is unusual) spring day in April.
