Figure 1 – White breasted nuthatch, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Figure 1 is my first successful image of a white breasted nuthatch – Sitta carolinensis. These are common feeder birds in the Northeast. But they are small and move fast; so it is hard to get close enough for a decent image, especially if you encumber yourself with the rule of only natural settings, that is no feeder allowed in the photograph. The other self-imposed rule is that you want them in their characteristic head down pose, which is how they climbed down trees. Note here the poisoned ivy vines.

I asked my self, self, why are they called nuthatches? They get this common name because of the way that they jam large nuts, such as acorns, into the bark of a tree and then pound on them with there sharp bills so as to “hatch” out the seed from the inside.That according to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the final arbiter in all things avian.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 365 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/640 th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.