More Face Time With White Breasted Nuthatches

One bird that, while quite common in the Piedmont, continues to interest me greatly is the White Breasted Nuthatch. I am not recording them on the BirdCam with great frequency -- usually no more than 2 to 3 days each month, but my logbook tells me they are a little more noticeable now than in 2007-08. April 2008 was a comparatively good month as I took pictures on five days that month alone---more than in the previous four months combined!, and that total was matched by this past February and March, so the trend is a good one. I see them most often on the suet feeders, but they turn up on the sunflower feeders and the peanut piece feeder now and then. I find these Sittids to be rather ill-tempered and possessive of feeders when they’re around and have been seen snapping at such other species as Eastern Bluebirds and American Robins. Lately I have been hearing WBN territorial calls a good deal so I am optimistic that a nest could be in the works on our property this summer. This is a species I remember seeing often in my childhood years, so I am always delighted to know they’re around much deeper in my life.