White-breasted Nuthatches from Kengi. The first two are male, the last female. Sitta carolinensis. Click for full size.
© Kengi. All rights reserved.
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Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
White-breasted Nuthatches from Kengi. The first two are male, the last female. Sitta carolinensis. Click for full size.
© Kengi. All rights reserved.
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The bright reds and blues and the iridescent colors of birds are great, but if I had feathers I would want that slate gray to be prominent.
As for the males, I’ve always been unsure about the sex of nuthatches. My guide book tells me to look for the color of the cap, but on the Cornell Bird ID website they have pictures of female nuthatches with dark caps.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/id
What am I missing?
The puppets were mislabeled (possibly deliberately by bored puppet-makers?). Hence the inner rat is confused, which is why it’s pointing in every direction…
“Hey! Rack off, I found these first!”
Kengi:
All my field guides say the same thing: dark cap, male, light cap, female.
As for the Cornell Bird ID site, I used to go there too, but gave it up as a complete mess. They have completely wrong information on most every bird, the photos are pretty much never accurate. I think they allow uploads by anyone, and don’t bother to check the info.
I suppose someone in Cornell’s PR department was responsible for the website instead of researchers. Opening it up like that probably made it a “success” from a PR perspective based on number of hits. Pity. And it certainly doesn’t help Cornell’s reputation in an area where they could have been a leader.
Kengi @ 5:
More than likely. I remember, years ago, being very confused by that site, at just how much wrong was littered everywhere. Like you, at first, I saw ‘Cornell’ and assumed this would be the best site. Instead, it’s one of the worst. Generally speaking, I’ve found wiki to be much more reliable, if I have to look up something that isn’t in my Peterson’s.
I lurve nuthatches, they’re so versatile and acrobatic! And there’s something mischievous about the way they hang around upside-down, too.
Also very shy, though I have observed one or two rather fierce ones at the feeder, too.
Oh, the nuthatches here are one of the least shy birds. They hit the deck while I’m still out there, stocking up the feeders.
Your nuthatches are braver than my nuthatches! :D
The birds aren’t happy with a standard posture. Flat and aerodynamic, upside down and sea lion upside down on a vertical surface.
Pretty shades of blue.
Yoga masters of the bird universe.
Our nuthatches (S. Az) are also on the bold end of the spectrum.
My wife is convinced that they generate their own gravitational fields, since they seem to manage to hop while inverted. :D