When the bulk of the spring migrating birds came through our part of the state and my neighborhood earlier this month, I was surprised to see a Red-breasted Nuthatch among them. Some of the birds spend the winter in our neighborhood during years when the seed production in Canada’s boreal forests is poor, and we did have a pair that stuck around this past winter. But I didn’t see them in March or April, so I assumed that they had moved north.
But one bird has continued to visit our feeders throughout May, and when I watch him leave the feeders with a peanut or sunflower seed, he’s caching it in the surrounding trees rather than eating it.
Maybe that’s just instinctive behavior for a bird passing through, or maybe he’s hoping if he returns next fall the seeds will still be where he left them. But I’m hoping the feeder visits mean a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches are nesting here for the summer!