white-breasted nuthatch – The Morning Porch/Patio

Thursday December 26, 2019

Dave Bonta December 26, 2019

A white-breasted nuthatch is barely audible over the whine of tires from the interstate. Two jet contrails form an X just above the sun.

Dave Bonta December 16, 2019

Nasal calls: nuthatch, crow. Snow dry enough not to clump, but wet enough to cling to every twig and give each dried beebalm head a cap.

Dave Bonta November 29, 2019

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

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.