New Yard Bird -- no. 106! -- Red-Breasted Nuthatch!

Red-Breasted Nuthatch (female) at Parc Perlière -- October 30, 2012

              Last Friday, at dawn, I walked out onto the back deck to water the plants before going to work.  Suddenly, a little bird flew over my head and landed in the Live Oak at the corner of the house.  Initially, I thought it was just a Carolina Chickadee.  But it was not moving about the branches like a Carolina Chickadee.  Then I saw the length of the bill and the bold face pattern -- a thick black eyeline with the broad white stripes above and below and dark cap.  Could this be a Red-Breasted Nuthatch?  I phished to see if I could draw it out of the oak and it flew right towards me and then did a U-turn.  I think its visual acuity was hindered by the darkness like mine.  He went back to the oak.  I called Carl who was also able to find the little bird climbing about the branches in nuthatch style.  Then, to confirm his ID, the bird gave a soft "yank-yank!"  We were thrilled to tally a new bird -- number 106 --  to our yard list!

            Of all the nuthatches that we can see in South Carolina, the Red-Breasted seemed to be the least likely candidate to become a new yard bird.  After all, we have Brown-Headed and White-Breasted Nuthatches in our wooded areas year round whereas the Red-Breasted Nuthatch comes here only to spend the winter.  Yet, neither of our resident nuthatches has chosen to venture into our yard.  Before Friday, I had seen a Red-Breasted Nuthatch east of Santee National Wildlife Refuge just once.  That was on Dewees Island for a Christmas Bird Count.  This is not a bird that is commonly seen in the coastal areas of our state -- until this year perhaps.  We had read Ron Pittaway's "finch forecast" on eBird about the cone crop failure in Ontario.  They predicted that this would lead to an influx of more unusual species further south, including the dispersal of some other passerines such the Red-Breasted Nuthatch.  From reports up and down the East Coast this fall, it does indeed appear that we are in an irruption year for the Red-Breasted Nuthatch.  For more details, check out this 10,000 birds blog post!  I wonder though what might come next due to this cone crop failure in the Northeast!  Will the Great Pumpkin, or Santa even, bring to us a Pine Siskin?, a Purple Finch? a Red Crossbill?!  Now, I am dreaming!  Sigh!

Red-Breasted Nuthatch (male) at Parc Perlière -- October 30, 2012

Red-Breasted Nuthatch (female) at Parc Perlière -- October 30, 2012

            Since Friday morning, I have not had much of an opportunity to do anything more than verify that we still had a Red-Breasted Nuthatch in the yard.  We are delighted that this nuthatch has hung around this long.  Our last 2 yard birds were one-moment wonders that we managed to see as they were migrating over -- the Northern Harrier (no. 104) last Spring and the Common Nighthawks early this Fall (no. 105 -- see this post).  Yesterday, I was able to return home before dark and noted that the nuthatch had begun to come to our nut feeder!  So I watched with camera in hand and, finally, was able to capture some images of not one, but two, different birds -- a male and a female!  You will note the gray cap on the female!  She was quite the well-groomed beauty!  She was also bolder in behavior than the more skittish and scruffy male -- the bird with the black cap.  We wonder how long we will have these 2 charmers.  We have plenty of nuts for the feeder so let's hope they stick it out here for awhile!  I would love to think they might stay through the season!