NATURE CLICKS #537 - NUTHATCH COMPARISON

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

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

COUSINS

Red-breasted Nuthatch ------------

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.

White-breasted Nuthatch

NATURE CLICKS #346 - RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH

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… 😊

NUTHATCH AND SIGMA 150-600 S LENS TALK

White-breasted Nuthatch, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

This is a picture I wanted to make since a long time. The White-breasted Nuthatch gave me a little bit of time today at our maple in front of the house to shoot a series of pictures. The fill flash is subtle, just enough to emphasize the colors, and except for the second catch light in the bird’s eye, it is not obvious that flash was even used. The nuthatches are permanent residents in our woods here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley.

I used the Nikon D750 with the SIGMA 150-600, f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens for this photo (picture made @ 600 mm, 1/160s, f/6.3, ISO 250). As more I work with the new lens, as more I fall in love with it. My old SIGMA 50-500 delivered sharp images but it was at its best at an aperture of f/8. I’m very impressed how the new 150-600 S performs already at f/6.3, and I already mentioned in my first article about this lens how much better the bokeh of the new lens is. It’s getting gradually warmer here in the next few days and I hope I have some more opportunities to practice with the SIGMA 150-600 S.

UPSIDE DOWN

Is this a shot I could have made any time during the winter season because the White-breasted Nuthatch is always present here in eastern Iowa? Perhaps, but it is the light and the colors that are different in spring. The gesture of the nuthatch, after going down on a tree trunk, is typical, but still unique. Don’t know any other bird who does it this way…