Nuthatches

White-breasted Nuthatch - Assinaboine Forest, MB One of the five nuthatch species in North America and one of 30 species around the world. Its closest cousin is the Giant Nuthatch of China. In the southern oak and poplar forests of Winnipeg, you can find these very distinct white and gray birds inching their way down the trunks of trees looking for food in the crevice's of the bark. Assiniboine forest was a favorite place of mine that our Grandpa took us to learn about the natural world. I really have to thank that man for inspiring my love of birding as he was truly the instigator. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
White-breasted Nuthatch - Assinaboine Forest, MB
White-breasted Nuthatch - Bebo Grove, AB In for a closer look! This Nuthatch is the largest of the four Nuthatch species in North America including the Red-breasted, Pygmy and Brown headed Nuthatches. This particular bird was travelling in a group of Nuthatches, Chickadees, Woodpeckers and Creepers in Bebo Grove in the Southern section of Calgary. White-breasted Nuthatches are the only of its kind in North America that you will find in deciduous trees where as the rest like Pine trees to find their food. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Fish Creek Park, AB
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Fish Creek Park, AB A very curious Red-breasted Nuthatch was interested in the what we were doing in Fish Creek Park just on the southern end of Calgary. There is a saying that gives a bit of a hint as to what you might be looking at moving up or down the trunk of a tree. Nuthatches down, and Creepers up. It doesn't work 100% of the time but I would say at least 85%. In this case horizontal works just fine. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Fish Creek Park, AB
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Bebo Grove, AB Another bird that was interested in what we were doing during a cold walk in Bebo Grove in the south of Calgary, Alberta. The Red-breasted birds are one of four Nuthatches in North America, one of three in Canada and one of two in Alberta. One of the things that I learned when I got serious about birding was that Nuthatches are more apt to go down a tree where a Brown Creeper is almost always going to head up a tree. Also, if you watch a nuthatch after they grab a sunflower seed or two and are full, they will take the seed and find a crevice in the truck of a tree and hammer the seed into the hiding spot for finding later. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Bebo Grove, AB
Pygmy Nuthatch - Okanagan Falls in the hills behind Vaseaux runs a forestry road that cuts through several different ecosystems and one of them is a dry pine forest. There were several birds in mixed flocks still moving together. One group of small but noisy members were these Pygmy Nuthatches. This particular bird was working an old pine snag. I have always remembered the genus and species name for this bird because of the movie Charlies Angels as Cameron Diaz incorrectly calls out the name of the bird as an oriole and then quotes the Latin name as Sitta Pygmea. Is my Bird Nerd showing? Michael Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com Picture
Pygmy Nuthatch - Okanagan Falls