The Nuthatch is Red-breasted

For the past week or two, I have been hearing a nuthatch which I have not been able to see. Since the common local variety is the White-breasted, I somewhat cavalierly assumed that this must be one of those. However, I got a good look at it this morning and it is a Red-breasted not a White-breasted. Always assuming that there is only one nuthatch around.

Red-breasted Nuthatches are irregular invaders from the north. Some years we see many of them (sometimes as early as August), other years none at all. I had heard reports of Red-breasted Nuthatches coming by earlier this fall and then passing through. Apparently at least one member of the breed hung around. This one was travelling with a Black-and-white Warbler (believe it or not, the first I have seen this season), a female Downy Woodpecker and a small group of B-c Chickadees.

This morning was clear but very humid and hazy with breezes blowing from the southwest (I could hear the ocean surf from across the bay). Not very good weather for migrants from the north (there were none coming in) but apparently good for Royal Terns who came crowding in the creek following some kind of fish run and also attracting the usual hangers-on: Ring-billed Gulls waiting to steal the catch or mop up anything left behind.

Eric Salzman