white-breasted nuthatch – The Morning Porch/Patio

Friday November 29, 2019

Dave Bonta November 29, 2019 0

Overcast and cold. Every few minutes, another boom as our neighbors sight in their rifles. A wren and a nuthatch sound mildly irritated.

Dave Bonta November 23, 2019 0

Clouds slowly vanish in the blue—like my own puffs of breath, but slower. Chickadees; a nuthatch. The forest floor goes from glow to shine.

Dave Bonta November 9, 2019 4

-5°C. The wilted and faded lilac leaves have acquired mold-like coats of frost. A white-breasted nuthatch’s nasal two notes.

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.