How thick is the White-breasted Nuthatchs coat?
It’s going to snow. My old down jacket isn’t quite warm enough, and I’m starting to shiver. It doesn’t seem possible for the nuthatch to live outside in such cold. I know he has a warm undercoat, made of small, fluffy feathers next to the skin, hidden beneath the outer contour feathers. I know he can fluff up the downy feathers to increase their insulating power. But still, the bird’s entire body isn’t as wide as the thickness of my coat. I leave some black oil sunflower seeds on the wooden porch railing and go back in the house. Rubbing my hands together, I watch the nuthatch in the elm from the warm side of my window. He was waiting for those seeds. One quick swoop brings the nuthatch to the porch. He picks up a seed, drops it, and picks up another. Perhaps this one’s heft or hardness promises a better kernel, and he carries it back to the tree. He lodges the seed into a crevice in the bark, hammers the shell to pieces with his beak, and eats the nutmeat. Nuthatch. (Hatch means hack,
