A New Little Friend !

We have a new little friend this autumn. Meet Rusty - she's a female Red-Breasted Nuthatch !

From the picture you can get an idea of how small she is ! She of course loves peanuts but will also eat all of the seeds and indeed suet that we have at our feeder. Red-Breasted Nuthatches can be quite rare in this area and we haven't seen any before this year. Notice that she has virtually no tail - that's because she doesn't need one - since she, like the White-Breasted Nuthatches spend the majority of their time on tree trunks upside down. She's an extremely fast flyer and we compare her to a fighter jet! Just last week a male arrived - and he's very similar to her but more colourful with a black cap instead of a gray cap. Rusty will sit on your hand and chirp at you and you can almost get a conversation going. She will, like the Chickadees, accompany you on walks in the bush - and not always wanting peanuts.