Speaking of Nature: The big beautiful world —A baby nuthatch ventures out

This White-breasted Nuthatch fledgling seemed to forget about its curiosity in the lichen almost immediately after poking at it. PHOTO BY BILL DANIELSON
Published: 07-08-2025 11:45 AM |
My school year stretched into late June and then I had several social engagements that I had to attend to during the rest of the month. As a result, my first week of vacation was actually busier than a regular week of work. It was fun, but it required enough energy that I declared a moratorium on any and all social entanglements for the first week of July and I managed things so that I only had to get into the car once to run a small errand. That was a real treat.
It was interesting that the 4:30 a.m. wakeup associated with my teaching schedule did not go away. I managed to doze in bed for a couple days, but I eventually surrendered to my body clock and just got up. I decided to keep the pattern going, but instead of getting into the car and heading for work, I got into my field clothes and headed for the Thinking Chair. The commute was short and joyful and the destination was absolutely splendid. Being at the edge of my meadow at sunrise is one of the best things in life and I was determined to make the most of it.
The Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Song Sparrows and Blue Jays were all in attendance and I could see that the adult birds were as frenzied and exhausted as I had been the previous week. The Blue Jays had four fledglings with them, which is a lot of energy and excitement to behold. The adults could make a move without being mobbed, but they did seem to appreciate the food that I had put out for them. This made feeding the mob a lot easier, even if it wasn’t exactly easy.
The chickadees and titmice were in the same exact situation; mobbed with freshly fledged babies who were excited and hungry. These sorts of settings are a wonder to behold, but the cuteness factor went off the charts when a male White-breasted Nuthatch discovered the food that I had put out. I could hear that he was not alone from the constant chatter in the trees behind me, but it wasn’t until his own fledglings made an appearance that I started laughing uncontrollably. It was pure, exultant joy and I could feel all of the stress evaporate from my body. My vacation had finally begun.
The White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is a species that most people seem to be fairly familiar with. My own records indicate that I have featured this species in four previous columns, but, as one might imagine, they were all during the winter months. This is because the White-breasted Nuthatch is a year-round resident that is particularly happy to visit feeders. Anyone who lives near mature trees and puts out a feeder will almost certainly see a nuthatch in fairly short order.
In the summertime, however, the situation can change quite dramatically. The White-breasted Nuthatch is a species that requires tree cavities for nesting. They will use any natural cavity that they find suitable, but it will come as no surprise that old woodpecker holes are extremely valuable to them. White-breasted Nuthatches are not the sort of bird to do any of their own excavation, but they will occasionally make slight modifications to non-woodpecker cavities.
Once the cavity is up to snuff, the females will build foundations of bark and dirt (presumably to level the bottom of the nest hole) before finishing a proper cup nest with fur, feathers, fine grasses and other soft materials. Upon completion of the nest the female will then lay one egg per day until she has a clutch of 5-9 creamy white eggs that are decorated with brown and purplish speckles. Incubation takes two weeks, the nestling phase lasts another 12 days and then the forest comes alive with new babies making their first foray into the big beautiful world.
For three consecutive days I had the pleasure of watching a male nuthatch with his fledglings. All of these days were a delight, but it wasn’t until the third day (when I finally managed to get down to the Thinking Chair by sunrise) that I saw that show of shows. It was so early in the morning that I arrived just as the family was waking up and boy were those little ones hungry. At first the male couldn’t move without being followed, but after about 30 minutes he seemed to get everyone sated to the point that they were willing to sit and wait for another food delivery.
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Today’s photo features one of the little nuthatches exploring the world while it waits. With its father gone, this adorable little creature decided to poke at the lichens growing on the tree bark and I just happened to catch the perfect expression on the baby’s face; a sort of absent-minded curiosity that one sees in babies sometimes. The instant it grabbed the lichen it had already seemed to forget what it was curios about in the first place. The only hints to this fledgling’s age are the dull grayish cap of feathers on the head and the faint trace of yellow skin at the corner of the mouth under the eye. Most passerines grow oversized flaps of skin at the corners of their mouths to make food delivery easier for the parents; a sort of “food funnel” if you will. Once out of the nest, this tissue slowly goes away.
And, believe it or not, I am already out of room. There is so much more that I could tell you, but I’ll have to save it for my next column on nuthatches. The Fourth of July is now behind us and the next time you hear from me I will have just returned from an expedition to northern Maine where my brother has a new camp. He has told me that there are some sexy warblers that are nesting up there (ones that I normally don’t see), so if I am really lucky I will come back with the photos. Stay tuned!
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 28 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more in formation visit his website at www.speakingofnature.com, or go to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.