Ice eating Nuthatch
This afternoon I observed a White-breasted Nuthatch carry small icicles (1" to 2" in length) to our maple and then break them apart as they typically do with food items by hammering them into bark. It consumed the broken bits of ice, even though I have a heated bird bath with fresh water. I watched carefully with binoculars and there didn't seem to be any frozen morsels in the ice, but I can't be certain. I wasn’t able to locate where it was getting the icicles from but it repeated this behavior a few times. It's always fun observing new and interesting bird behavior!
White-breasted Nuthatch image © 2007 Mike McDowell
posted by Mike McDowell @ 3:16 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I have seen birds eating snow before but never seen any birds breaking the ice like you described! Such a wonderful discovery!
Nuthatches are clever birds -- as you may know they've been observed using bits of bark or twigs as "tools" to get at insects on tree trunks; I wouldn't be surprised if the icicle behavior served some further function besides just water attainment, although that by itself would still be interesting.
I have nothing intelligent to say on the subject... but I can't help but note that I love nuthatches. They are so much fun to watch.
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