The invasion of the nuthatches

 

If I was asked to make a short list of my favorite birds the red-breasted nuthatch would be on it. Not only are the birds cute and friendly, but their songs transport my thoughts and memories to vacations and weekends on their home turf, be it the seemingly endless coniferous forests of northern Canada or the tracts of hemlocks, pines, and spruces found in certain locales of our Southern Tier.

You see, this nuthatch, unlike its very familiar cousin the white-breasted nuthatch, is not especially common in the Niagara region. In the last edition of the NYS Breeding Bird Atlas, there were only 3 confirmed nests in Niagara County and none in Orleans County. That’s because red-breasted nuthatches have an affinity for cone-bearing trees in great numbers. Those are forests of the north, or, here in Western New York, atop some of the higher peaks near the Pennsylvania border or in the woodlands of Allegany County that were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression.

For the most part, they are a hard find until winter when migrants visit our feeders. Even then, their numbers are light.

This feeding season, though, is already shaping up to be different… a lot different.

Occasionally, various species of birds from Canada that would otherwise stay there make their way to the States to stay the fall and winter due to food shortages, massive hatches, or horrid weather back home. This is called an irruption.

Well, this is an irruption year for sure for these little mites.

A few weeks ago, they started appearing in every nook and cranny of Western New York. I have two that now frequent my feeders in rural Gasport. I heard dozens of them in Allegany County last weekend. Also, I have seen irruption reports all across the northern half of the United States. An invasion is truly underway!

Take the time to admire these birds. As mentioned earlier, they’re cute. They are a fifth to a third smaller and much sleeker than white-breasted nuthatches and a lot more attractive, which is saying a lot because white-breasted nuthatches are pretty birds to begin with. Red-breasts are 4 ½” long, sporting a blue-grey back, a black cap, a black line through their eye, and many are brushed with a chestnut or red on their grey-white breasts.

Coming out of their beaks is a tinny, nasal call, that is itself cute -- it sounds like a small toy horn.

Their feeding style is unique. Like other nuthatches and quite unlike woodpeckers and flickers they climb trees downward rather than upward. You have to admire their upside down climbing technique. They do this while looking for insects (finding food the upward climbing woodpeckers might miss from their point of view) or cramming seeds under pieces of loose bark or in crevices which they then use as leverage so they can pry them open – which is where their name came from (nuthack in olde English). 

What forced them from Canada’s boreal forests and brought them here? During any irruption, it is typically one of two things.

One, there could have been a shortage of seeds all year, so they ran out early.

Two, there were actually so many pine, spruce, and fir cones early in the season that the red-breasted nuthatch parents overproduced offspring in response to the bounty and the nourishment they were given and the grown “baby boomers” ate all of them out of house and home to the point of running out. 

The first option seems to be the answer this year. Reports indicate that the cone crops have been very light in the eastern boreal forests.
  
For whatever reason, they’re here. And, it’s something to celebrate and see up close.

If you have some in your yard, feed them sunflower seeds…and go out to your feeding station often. They will let you walk right up to them and, with a little patience, they will even eat out of your hand. Most other bird species won’t oblige, but these ones do, maybe because they are like all Canadians --- friendly.