White-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta carolinensis

My yard, Crawfordsville, Indiana, October 16, 2005

Another view, my yard, South McClellan, Marquette, Michigan, 22 March 2011.

Another view, my yard, Crawfordsville, Indiana, 24 September 2005.

Another view, my yard, Crawfordsville, Indiana, 24 September 2005; note tongue.

Another view, my yard, Crawfordsville, Indiana, 9 October 2005; note underside chestnut colors.

Another view, Patton’s yard, Patagonia, Arizona, 7 March 2017. (This subspecies is a potential/likely candidate for a split by the AOU.)

Another view, Kit Carson Park, San Diego County, California, 6 March 2018. (This subspecies is a potential/likely candidate for a split by the AOU.)

NUTHATCH

Quick, at the feeder, pausing
Upside down, in its beak
A sunflower seed held tight
To glance by chestnut, dust-blue,
White, an eye-streak
Gone in a blurred ripple
Straight to the cedar branch
To the trunk to a crevice
In bark and putting it
In there, quick, with the others,
Then arrowing straight back
For just one more all morning.
                          —David Wagoner