I live more or less in the woods, so I expect woodland "critters" invading my house now and then. I have had lots of mice, chipmunks chewing in through the screened door, and woodpeckers and flying squirrels make holes in the siding. Today, though, I had a new home invader: a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
I often leave open the sliding door that goes out onto my deck, so I can hear what birds are around and can quickly take photos of them on the feeders or in the trees nearby. Today I was in the kitchen scoping out what I needed to put on my grocery shopping list when I heard the soft, "um, ah, ahp" notes of a nuthatch very close by. I looked up and a male Red-breasted Nuthatch was clinging to the legs of the tripod I have standing 6 feet INSIDE my house, about 10 feet away from me. He had a sunflower seed in his bill and was looking around, apparently for some place to cache it. I froze, thinking "where is a camera?" None were within reach, and I didn't want to scare him, so I stayed frozen. He then flew over to an old green army haversack I had hanging from a kitchen chair, probed around in a couple of places, then hammered his seed into a small hole worn into the side of the bag. Apparently satisfied with that, he flew back out the door and off into the woods. I waited, camera in hand, for a while for him to come back inside to hide more seeds, but one seemed to be all he needed. Kevin -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
