Travelin' Nuthatch

 

Red-breasted Nuthatch, SF Botanical Garden

I've been hearing red-breasted nuthatches for a couple of weeks, but I finally got a chance to photograph one this morning. My plan for the day was to eighty-six (i.e., "throw out," not "kill") my usual walk and bike ride, and instead find whatever the heat might bring to birdland. 

In my eagerness to get outside, though, I entered the SFBG around 8 a.m., well before the day actually got hot. I'd planned to stake out the little creek area back by the Moon Viewing Garden where I recently photographed Robins and Western Tanagers, but not only was it not very hot out yet, the creek area was being soaked by garden sprinklers.

On top of all that, it didn't seem very birdy in general -- until I encountered the biggest poppy on Earth. This huge poppy doesn't look anything like a California poppy, or even an opium poppy. This behemoth actually has bark on it, and that's why it's called Tree Poppy (Bocconia arborea). It's sprawled out right next to the Monkey's Hand and the Succulent Garden. I never really paid attention to it until today, because today it was very popular with the Western Warbling Vireos.

Since no other birds were eating the tree poppy's seeds, I wondered if the vireos had some prior experience with it. Lo and behold, tree poppy turns out to be native to southern Mexico, a favorite hang-out for western warbling vireos.

Anyway, getting back to the red-breasted nuthatch, I heard one calling while I was back in the Children's Garden area (where several pine siskins were working the alder at the pond, beyond camera range). The one I finally saw wasn't making any sounds as it gleaned for insects, but finally, just as I was about to leave, it made its telltale call which always reminds me of being in the Sierra Nevada.

Western Warbling Vireo on Tree Poppy

They squeeze the little black seed out of those oval pods.

The squeeze doesn't work every time.

I squeeze a seed out myself and was surprised how gummy it got my fingers. The vireos must be getting the seeds without all the mess. I was afraid to touch my camera (or my eyes) with my sticky fingers, so I washed them off in the spray of a nearby garden sprinkler.

Northern House Wren

Umber Skipper

There were more western warbling vireos back in the Children's Garden, mostly working the alder and the willows at the pond.

Western Flycatcher

A few Northern Yellow Warblers were drinking nectar from the Monkey's Hand tree.

American Lady Butterfly

A Townsend's Warbler made several forays from nearby trees to hunt for insects on the ground.

Steller's Jay

While I was watching the jay at my feet, a Townie landed on a branch right next to me.

It was just after the Townie flew away that I noticed a nuthatch in the branches above me. I was stoked to realize it was a red-breasted rather than a much more locally common pygmy nuthatch.

It was hunting by itself.

Which is something their kin, the Pygmy Nuthatches, rarely do. Here they were visiting the Schotia brachypetala.

Just across the pedestrian path, several Anna's Hummingbirds were nectaring on different red flowers.

I shot this through the bedroom window yesterday, a panting crow that appeared to be in heat distress. It remained in this position for a good while before finally standing up and flying into the nearby oak tree.

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