Not sure why this phrase comes to mind for White-breasted nuthatches, but I think I’ve heard or read that somewhere and it’s kind of true with all of their conspicuous activity and fluffy poses. Plus there’s all those tiny honks. You can hear them from so far away. They are reasonably tolerant of us humans and so we get to see their crazy antics up close and personal.
And speaking of, I was standing on the garden wall trying for some other birds when this little cutie came into view –
OMG they are so adorable and even though they are pretty ubiquitous and often photographed, I couldn’t resist trying for more, especially since I was basically at eye level with this one due to my standing on the wall. And the background was mostly good, too. So why the heck not?
I don’t often convert wildlife or bird photos to black and white, but this particular frame looked like a natural candidate for it. While the first shot shows all the lovely colors they have, this one didn’t and I like the added contrast I can include when converting to monochrome. The crop is a bit of a risk because the bird is centered, something that’s generally considered a no-no. After fiddling with it a bit, I feel it suits the nuthatch well since they do skitter all over a tree – up, down, sideways, around the trunk in a ring – all so unpredictable and quick. So which way will this one head now?
This next one shows the colors really well. The blue/gray contrasts so nicely with the warmer russet tones in the wings. Just a peek at those rusty coverts as it scours the bark for bugs. They also like seeds as everyone with a bird feeder in their range knows, but bugs are a staple.
Couples remain in the breeding territory all year and are thought to mate for life. Both adults rear the kids. A clutch averages 7 eggs, but not all of those live to fledge as I can attest by the raven activity in my yard lately. They raid all kinds of songbird nests and I’m pretty sure have scared a female robin off her nest before she could lay eggs.
So far just the classic nuthatch poses, but then it came a bit in front of the tree and so I have this downward angle with a lot of bark on display. Bummer the end of the beak isn’t more visible, but what can you do?
Still very cute. All of these were taken near sunset so with very low light and pretty high ISO as a result. The Lumix G9 continues to perform well and give me excellent images that can be improved with the new, native denoise AI in Lightroom or Topaz Denoise or Sharpen AI. Shots have to be crisp to begin with though and I managed to lock excellent focus for all of these and so they only got better. The other critical part of the high-ISO situation is exposure – you have to nail it and not underexpose much, if at all. Practicing on these “mundane” birds is a great way to train and hone technique so that when something really unusual presents itself (like those Ruby-crowned kinglets), I’ll be ready!
Birds are amazing – we have a lot of finches – they are pretty funny, too. They cuss a lot at the bird feeder….
Birds are for sure…finches, well, I haven’t picked up on the cussing.
Ours cuss at each other as they jockey for spots on the feeder! Well, maybe they just squabble. I don’t speak Finch. 😉
Fun to read about their antics. Mine are getting more brave and will nearly sit on the stand as I load up their feeders.
Chickadees do that to us…impatient little things!
But very fun to watch and listen to.