Red Breasted Nuthatch

[Dale S]

I have a big elm tree in the middle of my deck. This spring a male Red Breasted Nuthatch started making a hole in the tree. He worked on it for days on end. He ended up making a nest with 2 holes connected to it. Then he disappeared foe a couple of weeks. Well he must of been hanging out at the singles bars because he came back with a girlfriend. Couple days of courting and she laid 4 eggs. The eggs just hatched 2 days agoJuly 7. Now the male is busy running food to the nest.Looks like he is feed them mosquitoes. Every now and then the female will leave for a couple minutes, then return. Very interesting watching the process.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd55/dago029/P7080359.jpg
The male works hard he's back every 10 to 15 minutes.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd55/dago029/P7080362.jpg
The female waits for the next bug.
Let's see the nests you have in your yard.

[Elkhunt]

Great pics. They are cool little birds. We used to get them too when we had an old tree in the back yard. Enjoy & Thanks for sharing.

[Steven Noel]

Great pictures of one of my favourite birds, thanks for posting.

[pikergolf]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

[Strix]

Here's a White-breasted Nuthatch for comparison. They nest somewhere in my yard every year; once in one of my swallow boxes.

Strix

[Geezle]

Very neat little birds :)

[thumper]

I like the nasal 'beep' call they have. In the winter, there's usually one with every flock of chickadees. Apparently chickadees generally go 'up' a tree, looking up searching for food under bits of bark, while nuthatches go 'down' a tree looking down. That way they cover the same territory without directly competing, and so tolerate each others presence.
Unfortunately, nuthatches and chickadees like suet/meat during the winter and whole flocks can die off with winter wolf-poisoning campaigns.

[Ken07AOVette]

Thats awesome!

I have Pygmy nuthatches that will sit on my hand and eat sunflower seeds, very cool little animals.

[huntsfurfish]

Awesome pics, Dago!

[Dale S]

After 21 days in the nest the young ones left. Caught the first one leaving the nest on film. He popped his head out, made his way half way out. And then made the final break outside. I was expecting him to jump back in the nest. But he flew over to the next branch and hoped his way up to the top of the tree. By the end of the day all 5 were all gone.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd55/dago029/P7250367.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd55/dago029/P7250368.jpg

[TYLER H]

Dale S - I have been checking the internet for a couple days. You just made my day!!
I watched an awesome little red-breasted nuthatch start multiple holes in an elm in our backyard, for what seemed to be over 3 weeks. He finally got one all nicely done. I fed him some nuts, and then setup a reconyx to watch him. Then he disappeared. I feared I had scared him off. I even left more nuts near his nest. This gives me hope he may yet return. I had initially suspected he may leave to find a mate and come back, but then I was reading that the nest building is usually done by both male and female, so thought I must have been seeing them both at work, and that they had both left.

If you have any ideas of how I can help ensure that he/they return, I am all ears!!

[drhu22]

Very cool Dale S... thanks for sharing that, birds are so amazing.

Sorry this is OT, but I saw a bird tonight I didnt recognise... dark grey back, rust colored crown, face and upper breast, and black stripes on light grey running the length of its belly. He was about the size of a small robin. Sound familiar?

[drhu22]

Thats awesome!
I have Pygmy nuthatches that will sit on my hand and eat sunflower seeds, very cool little animals.

Any pictures of that? I just looked them up... those are very cool looking birds.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Pygmy+nuthatches&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj19tqGiJ_MAhXDLqYKHQLNB2sQ_AUIBygB&biw=1408&bih=702