Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:02:18 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Janet Millenson Subject: Nutty nuthatch? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Saw some odd behavior by a White-breasted Nuthatch. He (?) was popping in and out of a nice little cavity in the limb of a large maple tree. I'd seen the bird there before, only now he was dragging out lots and lots of fresh maple leaves and disposing of them. There were single leaves and clusters, some of them clearly a heavy burden for such a little guy. One or two he let fall below the cavity, but mostly he flew to a nearby tree and let go of the leaves there. (Hey, you don't want those predators on the ground to be alerted!) In all, I saw him haul out about 8 or 10 batches of leaves, all fresh except the last bundle which was slightly wilted. Then he went back in the hole and stayed there, looking out every few moments. What was THAT all about? Had a squirrel tried to take over the bird's nest site and furnish it with leaves for bedding? Not likely; the hole is too small and it's on the downward-facing part of the tree limb. Was this an inexperienced bird who was clueless about what constitutes appropriate nesting material? Maybe, but I don't see how a nuthatch could nip off such big clusters of leaves in the first place. Other theories are welcome -- this is a puzzler! Janet Millenson Potomac, MD janet@twocrows.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================