During the 4th of July (Independence Day) weekend, we had a Mortensen Family Reunion. We camped at the Hot Spring Campground near Garden Valley along the South Fork of the Payette River. The birding there was surprisingly good and I was delighted to have all three Idaho nuthatches right in the campground: Red-breasted, White-breasted, and Pygmy. Unfortunately I didn't capture any Pygmy Nuthatch images. These were the first White-breasted Nuthatches I had seen in Idaho, so I was pretty excited.
I noticed that the nuthatches and the woodpeckers always seemed to prefer the non-photo-friendly shaded side of the ponderosa pines. My family also moved around in our camp chairs like the hands of a clock following the shade.
Now I just need to get back to the South to see a Brown-headed Nuthatch.
Nice post! I wonder if I could get a trifecta here... I think brown-headed and red-breasted in the same place would be a stretch unless I happened to get really lucky. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! Great photographs! Congratulations on your first Idaho White-breasted Nuthatch sighting. Love the Nuthatches and their silly sound effects. We see lots of WB Nuthatches and RB Nuthatches but Pygmies are not in our area.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't seen the White or Pygmy! So jealous! And your pictures are great, too!
ReplyDeleteI have seen all three of these species in AZ also, but the pymys are so hard to photograph because they are so tiny and they stay so high in the pines! They blend right in and look like part of the tree. I have not seen a brown-headed nuthatch either. Perhaps when I move back to the east I can visit one of my siblings in the south and see one there.
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