white-breasted nuthatch – The Morning Porch/Patio

Monday March 18, 2019

Dave Bonta March 18, 2019

Not as cold today—nor as loud, the main pulse of meltwater having passed. I watch a pair of amorous nuthatches flit from tree to tree.

Dave Bonta March 12, 2019

For every red-bellied woodpecker trill, the white-breasted nuthatch has a response, low and nasal. A cold wind on my freshly barbered neck.

Dave Bonta January 5, 2019 1

Staccato sounds: the distant drumming of a pileated woodpecker, a white-breasted nuthatch’s agitated call, rain tapping on the roof. Again.

Dave Bonta December 5, 2018

Under a white sky, the small white car of the meter man, and a heavy frost. Two nuthatches are having a frank exchange of views.

Dave Bonta November 27, 2018

Light snow powdering my black sleeves. I watch a nuthatch inspect each branch of a walnut, its sideways hop and dip when it finds a morsel.

Dave Bonta November 8, 2018

All the most supine stiltgrass has grown white fur in the night. Two nuthatches foraging at the woods’ edge react badly to my sneeze.

Dave Bonta October 1, 2018

A half moon high overhead, fading as the fog rises off the meadow. A nuthatch lands on the dead elm’s smooth trunk and turns all about.

Dave Bonta September 15, 2018

It’s been 20 years since the butternut tree fell over, but I still miss it: the sky too big, too blank, the nuthatch’s call too far away.

Dave Bonta January 22, 2018

The earth is brown again, and the hillside hidden in fog. A one-minute rain shower. Nuthatches chatter. The sun makes a bleary appearance.

Dave Bonta November 17, 2017

Cold and quiet. An argument between nuthatches is picked up and amplified by a pileated woodpecker. The old dog farts in a patch of sun.