Champions of the Flyway!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Pygmy Nuthatches - San Francisco


One of many new species encountered in the park, Pygmy Nuthatches are - like all nuthatches - inherently entertaining and attractive; however, their behaviour and calls set them aside even within their genus.


They travel through trees and shrubs in marauding gangs at high speed, pausing only where food source dictates, where they're liable to dangle from branches and perform acrobatics worthy of chickadees; all the time keeping in contact with high-pitched bips and beeps. One flock approached us while we were picnicing by the lake, stayed within a few metres of us for a good fifteen minutes, and numbered at least twenty birds.