Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 03:46:23 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: June Tveekrem Subject: Re: Nutty nuthatch? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I saw the same behavior from two different pairs of White-breasted Nuthatches earlier this spring. They evidently clean out the hole they're intending to nest in before bringing in new nesting material. ================================= June Tveekrem Columbia, Howard County, MD tweekiebird@toadmail.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janet Millenson" To: Sent: April 30, 2002 5:02 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Nutty nuthatch? > 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================