NATURE CLICKS #537 - NUTHATCH COMPARISON

November 14, 2022

The Red-breasted Nuthatches are winter guests here in Iowa. We are lucky to see a couple around here since about a month. They are as acrobatic as their cousins, the White-breasted Nuthatches, during their efforts to find food on trees, or like in this photo at a feeder. The white-breasted breeds here and is present all year long. As you know, I do not make a lot of bird images at a bird feeder, but in this matter I wanted to show the difference in size between both species and the raster of a suet feeder is an excellent scale for this purpose. The Red-breasted Nuthatch prefers coniferous forests, which of course they find up north in their breeding range. The larger White-breasted Nuthatch inhabits mixed deciduous and coniferous forests and prefers the presence of oak trees (source: iBird PRO app). They built their nests in dead wood, often higher up in a tree. Well, we have plenty of dead wood around here and so far we have seen every year a successful brood.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4

NATURE CLICKS #473 - RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH

November 4, 2020

In my presentations about “Story telling in wildlife photography” I always emphasized to start shooting in your own backyard, garden, or anywhere around your place of living. That hasn’t changed and recently I made a few improvements to my own front yard “shooting gallery”, means the arrangements of bird feeders, bird baths, landing and perching places the birds can use during the cold season. Since we came back from our vacation about mid September we watched two Red-breasted Nuthatches that became frequent visitors in our yard. This seemed to be a little early, but however, they were some of the first birds that trusted the new arrangements and rewarded me with some great opportunities for making a click. Regarding light, the place is ideal during the hour before sunset, most likely also the time when I’m done with my day job and when undivided attention to the bird traffic is possible. The Red-breasted Nuthatches never remain much longer in a spot than 1-3 seconds, not always enough time to predict the shot, obtain focus on the bird, and finally make the click. I love when it works out and light, color, and gesture tell the story of this beautiful bird that may hopefully spend the winter here in eastern Iowa.

BIRDS AT MAKOSHIKA

October 25, 2020

Orange-crowned Warbler, Makoshika State Park, Montana, September 2020

Wherever we go on vacation we always keep track what kind of birds or critters we see, even if not every encounter leads necessarily to a photo opportunity. A place like Makoshika State Park in Montana, with Pondarosa pines, red cedars, grasses, and shrubs provides food for many birds and other animals. We had a remote campsite on a ridge above a canyon and many tree tops were on eye level. This gave us a good position and view for birds who may have been otherwise high above our heads. This sounds easy but the biggest challenge was to manage the harsh light. Other than that, you can sit in your camping chair, read a book, and just wait until warblers, kinglets, or nuthatches show up. Most of the time you hear them way before you see them…

Red-breasted Nuthatch, All photos: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

NATURE CLICKS #415 - MIGRATION TIME

October 17, 2018

I like to interrupt again my “OUT WEST” series here in the blog for some actual photos and wildlife encounters we had here in our woods on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa Valley. Since a few days we have a few birds here that either migrate through or may stay for part of the winter.

The White-breasted Nuthatch calls our woods home but every fall we have at least one Red-breasted Nuthatch joining them for some time. They never stayed here all winter long. The red-breasted is much smaller than the white-breasted and their white eyebrow and orange belly makes it easy to identify.

Carolina Wrens are supposed to range all year long in this area but we see them only occasionally in fall or during the winter. Maybe they avoid our neck of the woods because our House Wrens, who are now already much further south, are too aggressive and territorial. I hardly ever show pictures that are made at a bird feeder, unless it is a species we don’t see very often or it is a first sighting. I couldn’t resist to make this click through the glass of my office window. The deer antler sits on top of the roof of a wooden seed feeder and allows the birds to perch.

COUSINS

December 2, 2016

We had an extremely mild October and November and I wonder if this is the reason that we see this Red-breasted Nuthatch still in the trees and at our bird feeders. I first saw the bird October, 29th and repeatedly after. It’s cousin, the White-breasted Nuthatch is here all year long. They are slightly bigger than the red-breasted and at the bird feeders the smaller nuthatch seems to avoid its bigger cousins.

NATURE CLICKS #346 - RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH

October 30, 2016

Since yesterday we have a Red-breasted Nuthatch around here. They spent the summer up north in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Canada. Although I spent several hours this weekend to get a shot with the bird away from a bird feeder, I did not succeed. The Nuthatch flies in pretty straight right up to a feeder with sunflower seeds, picks up a seed, and flies off into the woods. Its cousin, the White-breasted Nuthatch, who is a permanent resident here in eastern Iowa, goes usually first to a tree trunk and makes sure the feeder area is safe before it gets to the food source. This makes it much easier to get a picture. The red-breasted is smaller and very easy to identify because of the black eyestripe and of course color. I hope the nuthatch stays for a few more days and I still can get a shot with the bird on a tree trunk or branch. My records show that the last time I saw one in our woods was in May 2013. I guess it’s time for a new photo… 😊