From my yard, I am enjoying the opportunity to watch the nuthatch pair
at their nest cavity, "Up Close and Personal".

They have been exhibiting the "bill sweeping" described in _Birds'
Nests_ in the Peterson Field Guide series, but with a little twist.

Hal H. Harrison writes, "Both birds engage in prolonged (several
minutes) sweeping of bill in wide arc in or outside cavity, generally
with insect held in bill.  Unproven theory is that crushed insect may
repel squirrels searching for available cavity.  It is considered
unlikely that this is courtship behavior."

"Prolonged" is an apt description; it hinges on Obsessive-Compulsive.
The twist this evening was that, instead of an insect, the male was
using a piece of pliable plastic!  It was of the type that could have
started out as part of an opaque wrapper, maybe a little stiffer than
wax paper.  The nest cavity is in a Black Cherry tree, and periodically
he would stuff the plastic under a piece of bark as if he were done and
tucking it away, then he'd pull it right back out, sweep some more, and
continue the cycle.  At one point he ended up about 2' below the
entrance, then he looked around & realized how far he'd gotten away from
it and worked his way back.

Meanwhile, the female was also bill sweeping in different areas, once on
the opposite side of the tree from him and the opening.  The difference
was that while she started with a real insect, there couldn't have been
any part of it remaining at all by the time she was done, not even bug
juice!

One or two Ruby-crowned Kinglets and several Yellow-rumped Warblers have
been feeding in trees in and around my yard since they arrived last
Monday.  This evening there were 8 White-throated Sparrows (2 white- and
6 tan-striped morphs) foraging under the feeders.

Kathy Mock
Barberton, OH

"When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them
all." -- Edward O. Wilson

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