Birdwatching - 3056 🐦

🦉 The Eurasian nuthatch or wood nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

• Sitta sittē (Greek) mentioned by Aristotle and other ancient Greek. by the authors of the bird, something similar to the woodpecker
• europaea (lat.) European

If you see a bird in the forest running along a tree trunk upside down with the air of an acrobat, it's a nuthatch. Neither woodpeckers nor treecreeperscan storm trees "upside down" so nimbly.
This stocky little fellow with a bluish-gray “back” not only deftly fishes insects out of cracks in the bark, but also masterfully handles nuts: clamps them in cracks and methodically splits them with its beak, like an axe.

If its hollow seems too spacious, the nuthatch covers the "extra" space with clay, leaving only a narrow entrance, all for safety, so that no one can get inside except it.

In winter, nuthatches turn into selfish kings of feeders: they do not just eat, but steal seeds for future use, pushing them under the bark of nearby trees. At the same time, they do not care at all about other birds in the feeder - it just flies in there, pushing everyone aside.