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December 11, 2003  Mixed Nuthatches Last night the temperature was -22 Celsius. At dawn smoke from the neighbours’ chimneys rose straight up through the frigid morning air. Ice crystals glistened as the sun’s first rays struck rigid evergreen branches. The Chickadees in my lilac bush worked feverishly over their black sunflower seeds - little high speed oil derricks teetering furiously to get at the contents. Suddenly a female Red-breasted Nuthatch hove into view. It made directly for a stout tree-trunk birdhouse I hung for the winter on a poplar sapling. The Nuthatch alighted in the birdhouse entrance hole and dangled head down turning this way and that as if to say ‘What a great day to select a nesting spot and look at this prize I’ve found.’ When the Nuthatch tired of hanging animatedly at the nest box hole it flew to the suet and began to pull at the frozen fat. Like a dart a male Nuthatch flew at the female and fairly knocked her off the suet cage. He then began to feed. When he was done he pursued the female with wings drooped in a threat posture as she kept just ahead of him. This is typical Nuthatch life in winter. Though they travel together they don’t seem to tolerate each other very well. By the way, how did this little blue, white and orange bird, come to have the name Nuthatch? I have been asked this before. My usual explanation, one that I must have read somewhere, is that the name started out as Nut-hack. One has only to watch how the Nuthatch opens a sunflower seed to see where this might apply. It is unlikely that Nuthatches try to incubate nuts they find lying about the forest but the idea does come to mind. If there are no sunflower seeds available Nuthatches glean the nutlets from evergreen cones. I’ve had occasion to watch this activity up close when I put some cones on the feeder hoping to attract Crossbills. The Nuthatch inserted its long bill under one of the cone’s slightly lifted scales and grasped the membrane that forms the wing on which the seed is attached. With a swipe against a hard surface, like the cone itself, the Nuthatch broke off the winged membrane and ate the evergreen seed. After seeing this demonstration I knew why Nuthatches readily take, shell, and eat black sunflower seeds. Going Digital When it comes to birding I’m not a hi-tech junkie. The need for a piece of equipment should be discovered prior to arming yourself with all sorts of unnecessary items. By studying your needs certain demands become clearer, defining the construction\features of the desired object. Only after the demands are concrete can you tell if a proffered object answers the needs. So when I read an advertisement for a combination binocular/digital camera I had to know more. For those who watch a lot of birds there will come a time when you need a quick way of capturing the image of an unknown bird for further study. Or you might want to take an image to another birder who might shed some light on its identity. Currently, to capture an image, you have to carry cameras and binoculars. Putting down your binoculars then rummaging around in a pack to fish out a camera takes time. Meanwhile any mystery bird worth its salt will slip off to places unknown, long before the intrepid photographer gets set up and ready to snap. Oh, he will snap all right - just not pictures. The challenge under such circumstances is so great that if you are like me, you never even bother to try to photograph birds during a brush-beating pursuit. What is the likelihood of the bird holding still, the light being right, and the correct lens being on the camera when needed? None! So, back to the advertisement I mentioned earlier. If this binocular/digital camera was to be the answer to my dream of capturing bird images in the field, it would have to perform like a dream and give images clear enough to be used for further scrutiny. I set out for the store that placed the advertisement armed with many questions. Did it eat batteries like crazy? How close would one need to be to take useable shots? How good were the binoculars? After the dust had settled and I had asked all the questions and read all the fine print, I still had one nagging question that could not be answered by words. What were the images like? For that answer I turned to the Internet to see it there were any reviews by those who had already used this equipment. Finally I found one place that gave a mini review of the camera/binocular. There were pictures too! My findings in a nutshell, and bear in mind that I have not even held the actual camera/binocular in my hand outside of its package, is that it might be good for certain applications. The photos I saw taken with this device would serve my purposes where a clear enough shot for use in further identification was needed. Unfortunately, depending on which review is read and according to those who have used the binos\camera in the field, one can’t get very good pictures closer than 20 to 40 feet away from the bird. A Heron showed up well - birds the size of Grackles were less easily identified. One reviewer did state that it was a good binocular for its price and size but they were less enthusiastic about the camera. Another said they were surprised by how many shots could be taken on the higher resolution setting. Can I live without this device? I guess so, but it sure would be fun to run amok over the countryside with this binocular/digital camera just for a day before I have to give a definite answer. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
