Red-Breasted Nuthatches in My Back Yard

Some mornings the backyard becomes the story.

This week a red-breasted nuthatch family has been visiting the feeder — mother and babies, working the suet, calling back and forth from the trees. The babies still have that slightly disheveled fledgling look that nuthatches grow out of within a few weeks.

Red-breasted nuthatches are smaller than their white-breasted cousins, with a slate-blue back and a warm rust underside. They favor conifers and they’re not shy about feeders.

The mother moves fast, head-down, the way nuthatches do everything. She has been working the suet hard, then back to the babies, then back again. They love the suet.

Sometimes they strike a pose

I photographed all of this in my backyard. Red Breasted Nuthatches are the least afraid of humans in my observations. They let you get very closer than most birds. The morning light worked in their favor.

These fledglings till look up in the sky waiting for there mother to deliver some food.