Birds

Returning the Favor

April 10, 2007 by Corey 5 Comments

I think a nuthatch has gained access to a computer. On Easter Sunday, two days after I posted my weekend picture featuring the White-breasted Nuthatch, I saw one just sitting on my parents’ feeder. It seemed odd, not moving at all, so I opened the door and stepped onto the deck, holding my camera with my 100mm macro lens affixed. At about five feet I stopped and took this:

White-breasted Nuthatch

As soon as I lowered my camera he took off, landed on a thick limb of a hemlock, and serenaded me with his honking-scolding.

hemlock cone and needles

Hemlock cone and needles

I would like to believe that the nuthatch read my post and liked it so much he decided to pose for me. Otherwise, the best explanation I can come up with is that he hit his head on the feeder as he landed and was temporarily stunned until the click of my camera awakened him. Or maybe he was wondering what he did to deserve big, nearly-hairless bipeds feeding him free food for fun and and decided he better make with a pose, and quick, before the biped with the weird, clicky-flashy, black box took the food. Whatever his reason I sure appreciate the result!

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.