Psycho Nuthatch

[micpic]

Actually defending what he thinks is his personal feeder.

Winding up for a nut crack.

[Dbl]

Very cool! Nice shots.

[Steve Foss]

Good ones. Great poses!

[finnbay]

Great shots! I particularly like the first one!

[MN Shutterbug]

I've never seen a nuthatch do that. That's pretty cool. Good captures.

[Steve Foss]

I've never seen a nuthatch do that. That's pretty cool. Good captures.

No wait. You're supposed to say: "I wish we had those birds where I live!"

[micpic]

Thanks for the comments! They are a fun bird, not very skittish and fast. It's hard not to LOL when they are climbing all over the blind!

Mike

[panthrcat]

wow those are some kind of amazing shots!! what do you shoot? what lens? they are incredibly crisp and tack sharp!! your a lucky duck!!

[ShawnZ]

Number one is very good! I've tried several times to capture that behavior without much luck.

Impressive! Now, do you know if it was reacting to another nuthatch (that's my guess) or was it reacting to a different species?

[mixxedbagg]

Splendid Sitta psychosis!

[micpic]

Sue, I used a 50D with a 100-400 lens. The trick is I have a EF25 extension tube between the lens and camera that acts as a magnifier. It's my way of getting good shots while I'm learning Photo Shop. This also drops your focal length dramatically. That's why Nuthatches are easy to get because they are alot less skittish than other birds. I had one land on my shoulder while filling the feeder once. They have some pretty sharp talons and a good grip.

Mike

[JayinMN]

The first shot is a excellent display of nuthatch behavior!

[wannafish2]

While hunting, I was able to observe a couple nuthatchs collecting seeds? or something and putting them in a little section of a tree where a branch broke off. One of them would defend it against other birds. But the funniest part was after they would leave, this red squirell would go right up there and eat every bit of the stash! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it.