Red-breasted Nuthatch

Hazardous winter conditions for today, 2 October 2017, and I am so thankful there is nowhere I absolutely have to go! The temperature is -1C (windchill -10C) and we are having strong winds (howling, earlier) and blowing snow this morning. I am SO not ready for this! It is almost unheard of that a birding walk is actually cancelled because of the weather, but that is what happened for people today.

Knowing that snow was in the forecast for today, I made a last minute decision to go on a walk with birding friends yesterday afternoon. The sun was shining, though grey clouds were slowly moving in, and you could tell that there was about to be a big change in the weather. It is so rare that I go for a walk any more, but it was good to get out for the afternoon, down at Bebo Grove in Fish Creek Park.

Our big question was, where were all the birds? We saw practically nothing in maybe a two and a half hour walk, though I was glad to at least have seen and got a quick shot of this friendly little Red-breasted Nuthatch. People are not supposed/allowed to feed the birds down in the park, which means that the birds fly up to the top of the hillside and visit the feeders in people's gardens. The afternoon is not the best time of day to be looking for birds, to start with. We used to see quite a few deer in Fish Creek Park, too, years ago, but people letting their dogs run off-leash, despite all the signs, have spoilt all that.

"An intense bundle of energy at your feeder, Red-breasted Nuthatches are tiny, active birds of north woods and western mountains. These long-billed, short-tailed songbirds travel through tree canopies with chickadees, kinglets, and woodpeckers but stick to tree trunks and branches, where they search bark furrows for hidden insects. Their excitable yank-yank calls sound like tiny tin horns being honked in the treetops." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Nuthatch/id

We always go for coffee after the afternoon walk - good old Tim's : ) Always enjoyable to catch up with friends.