Red-breasted Nuthatches are my favorite winter bird. They move in every direction (and seem to love upside-down), and once I even witnessed one of these spunky little birds do a somersault!
They are described as having “almost no neck” which I think makes them even cuter.
At my feeding station they prefer hanging tube feeders (but will visit platform and hopper feeders), and they go crazy for peanut halves. These birds will also eat sunflower seeds (in-the-shell and hulled) and suet.
Red-breasted Nuthatches don’t always show up to my winter feeders—it often depends on the conifer seed supply in Canada. This year I have two Red-breasted Nuthatches regularly visiting my peanut feeders.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website says that “When given the choice [Red-breasted Nuthatches] tend to select the heaviest food item available; if these are too large to eat in one piece they typically jam them into bark and then hammer them open.”