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"These little nuthatches are favorite birds of mine. Actually, at only four inches long, they are almost no bird at all. They spend their time roving down the trunks of trees searching for insects. Upon reaching the bottom of the trunk, these birds will fly up to another nearby tree and begin the process again. They descend down the trunk; while a similar species, the brown creeper, climbs UP the trunk. In this way, both species can exploit the same tree without finding the same prey.
Nuthatches have a call that sounds like a child off in the forest with a tin horn. This "yank, yank" is a sound that reminds me of many of my favorite places. I have heard this toy horn in the winter ponderosa forests of Yosemite, the lodgepole pine forests of Yellowstone, and fir forests of Mount Rainier. It is a sound that, to me, means pure and peaceful mountains".
Larry Eifert
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