Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Sitta Canadensis

Day 318: Although not a Life List bird for me, today marks the first appearance of a Red-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) at my present location. We had a rather startling introduction, little Nutty and I, meeting first as my hand entered a bird feeder from one side just as he entered from the other. We both jumped, but not very far. After pouring a cupful of black-oil seed in the tray, I proceeded to the enclosed feeder shown in this photo. Nutty sat atop the shepherd's hook as I loaded it up, less than six inches from my face. By that point, I'd recovered from our first encounter and met him eye to eye. "Oh! You're a Nuthatch!" I said, after noting his identification points (not that there's much chance of misidentifying one of these cheeky little birds). "I don't s'pose you'd let me go get the camera, would you?" Predictably, he was gone when I got back. I settled in to do some sewing in the kitchen, thought at one point that I might have seen him in the Philadelphus, and when I migrated back out to the living room and sat down at the computer, he made another split-second appearance at the feeder. Now thoroughly motivated, I moved the quilting frame to a spot where I had a clear view of both of the feeders he'd visited, set the camera on a stool beside me and waited. He returned several times, and I took half a dozen photos of an empty feeder, an equal number of shots of red-breasted blurs, and then at last he settled in long enough for me to focus the lens through the kitty-nose-printed double pane window and bingo, I got my documentation shot. Hopefully, he will allow me a field-guide photo session once he becomes accustomed to my presence...if, of course, he's not just passing through.