What's Up?
The White Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is a specialised bird that has carved its evolutionary niche by seeing the world upside down.When they're not hopping down trees head first looking for insects right side up birds may have missed, nuthatches will take larger seeds, stuff them into bark crevices and bang them with their strong beaks to "hatch" the nuts. Get it? These energetic birds like to fly in a feeding flock with the company of Chickadees, Titmice, and Woodpeckers. It is speculated they can interpret the sounds of the chickadees early warning signals for hawks and other predators.
When the sun sets over World Bird Wednesday this week Suzanne and I will be flocking south with the rest of the snow birds for a brief respite from winter in Florida. We have a few birding activities planned for the week besides sunning our shinny white legs on the beach. I am excited to have rented Canons new 70-300L lens to take along. It is advertised as a great travel lens and indeed it is amazingly compact for such quality glass. What strange new birds await us? I am full of anticipation.
Look out Florida birds, the Michigan bird Paparazzi is on its way!
#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W.
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#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.
#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!
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Bon voyage !
ReplyDeleteLove the nuthatches! They are a lot of fun to watch. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteThey're a great bird aren't they Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
ReplyDeleteAlways love to see nuthatches, they are such fun to watch. Have a great trip to Florida!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots! Have a nice trip to Florida, I'm sure you'll find a lot of birds down there!
ReplyDeleteHiya Springman,
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your review of that lens, as well as the collection of bird pix you will bring home.
Nuthatch is sweet. I believe ours is sort of beige rather than grey. Greige maybe :-)
Thanks for hosting and have a good break down south.
Great shots of a bird very similar to our Nuthatch.
ReplyDeleteHave a great time in Florida.
I love the second photo of the Nuthatch! He looks like the world belongs to him. At my feeder chickadees also announce to other birds when I am replenishing the seeds. Enjoy your Florida trip! There'll be plenty of birds for your Canon lens!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your time in Florida Springman.
ReplyDeleteAdam
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteI am sitting today at the Firehouse spending the last day before vacation at work. Suz and I are so excited! It's going down to single digits in Detroit tonight so its quite a rush thinking we'll be seeing palm trees in 24 hours.
The 70-300L lens is on camera and thoroughly tested with 500 shots. I can tell you right now the image stabilization is nice to have on a long lens. And Joco, speaking of "Greige", that is exactly the color of this lens!
Hilke, I never thought much about the dynamics of a mixed feeding flock. Interesting. Chickadees are absolutely fearless for an animal weighing in at 1/2 an ounce or less.
I'm trying to talk Suzanne into going on a guided kayak trip in alligator invested waters. They guarantee that because the alligators have not been fed by man or harassed by man that they are therefore "wild" and have a natural fear of man and will not attack a kayak. This doesn't sound reasonable to her!
A beautiful Nuthatch. Enjoy your vacation in Florida.
ReplyDeleteSpringman my comment was being added at the same time as yours. I just wanted to add that I have visited the Everglades but viewed this beautiful landscape from the safety of an Airboat. To get down low and personal in a kayak sounds great but believe me some of those gators are pretty damn big.
ReplyDeleteNice photos of the little birds with their upside-down habits.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of these little ones. Have a wonderful trip!
ReplyDeleteLove these guys I spent a few hours out in the yard trying for a decent photo they are very busy--and you are so right the chickadees seem to escort them in! ENJOY Florida we have a wintry mix coming our way on Wed night--
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots of the White-breasted Nuthatch Dave. They are so much fun to watch. I have what I believe is a pair that have been in my yard for a year. I'm hoping that they nest this year and raise a family!
ReplyDeleteOh, hey, I am looking forward to your photos from Florida! Have fun down there.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the Nuthatch. I have been listening and watching our version today but nowhere close enough for my 70-300 zoom.
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Florida and don't forget a spare card or two! Cheers FAB.
Nuthatches are surely a favorite of millions. I have several that visit.
ReplyDeleteBTW have a wonderful vacation, and occasionally think of us up north here in the deep freeze.
B.
Hi Springman, Well I'm here in warm sunny southern California and I love your Nuthatch and its upside down perspective . I don't know much about birds except to think I'd like to be one. But am sure I'll learn a lot from your blog. Enjoy your trip to Florida!
ReplyDeleteHave a grand time in Florida. I wish we would have had time to do some real birding!
ReplyDeleteIts Midnight here in mid-town Detroit and I am deep into the blogs. Thanks for the lovely comments! Onward we go!
ReplyDeleteHi Springman, what stunning photos of a unique (to me) bird. Did you use the new lens here or are your photos always so BRILLIANT. My contribution pales by comparison, lol! Have a wonderful trip to Florida, you and Suzanne. Look forward to seeing birds there through your eyes. Blessings and travel mercies, Jo, East Africa
ReplyDeleteHi - this is my first Wednesday post - what a great idea.
ReplyDeleteHope people will have a look at my pictures and also visit my main blog:
http://payingreadyattention.blogspot.com/
Cheers - and thanks for setting this up.
Stewart M
Terrific shots, both the upside down and the pose below are amazing! Enjoy the warmer weather of Florida.
ReplyDeleteHope y'all have a warm time in Florida! If you pass through Charleston, stop in and say HI!
ReplyDeleteSuperb photos!
ReplyDeleteHave a great trip!
Greetings
Joo
You always make me laugh,have fun in Florida,I`m with Suzanne,the alligators would not be on my list to see,great photos of the nuthatch!phylliso
ReplyDeleteYour little nuthatch is quite the acrobat!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful time in Florida with the rented lens and please let us know/see how it works out.
We're here!
ReplyDeleteWell done Springman.... youget comfy now and enjoy the break.
ReplyDeleteLove the Nyuthatches, what a great species. I had two in the garden for a while last summer... a joy to watch
Welcome to Florida Mr and Mrs Springman! I can't wait to see your pictures. We were on a boat trip earlier this week and so I missed posting to WBW -- I'll be back next week. (And won't miss visiting the links.)
ReplyDeleteOf course what I meant to say above is that I AM going to visit the WBW links even though I didn't enter.
ReplyDeleteThe nuthatch must be wired so differently. I can't imagine being upside down, eekk!
ReplyDeleteLovely shots of this fellow :)
And you guys have fun in Florida!
I am so NOT envious,... at ALL..... *sigh* ;)