I did a double-take the other morning when I saw a nuthatch checking out the suet feeder in my yard on the outskirts of Decatur. It was neither a white-breasted nuthatch nor a brown-headed nuthatch — the two most common nuthatch species in Georgia.
It was a red-breasted nuthatch, an infrequent winter visitor in these parts. As far as I can remember, the one in my yard was only the third one I’ve ever seen there in 25 years.
This winter, in fact, is one of the best ever for an influx of red-breasted nuthatches in Georgia. During the recent Christmas Bird Count on coastal St. Catherines Island, we counted a record 130 of the little birds. The previous high was 36, according to Giff Beaton, a leading Georgia bird expert.
“It reflects a red-breasted nuthatch ‘irruption’ all over Georgia this winter,” he said.
Irruption? Not to be confused with eruption or migration, an irruption is an unusual, irregular movement of birds in large numbers out of their normal winter range, usually from up North. The birds may head South in large numbers when their food supplies dwindle or weather conditions become too harsh in their Northern winter haunts.
Red-breasted nuthatches prefer to spend the winter mostly in Northern coniferous forests dominated by fir and spruce trees. (Brown-headed nuthatches prefer more southerly, pine woods; white-breasted nuthatches like deciduous hardwood forests.)
If there are adequate food supplies and other conditions up North during the cold months, red-breasted nuthatches might not appear at all in Atlanta or other points South. This winter, though, the large influx of the birds indicates that Northern conditions have not been so favorable.
This winter’s irruption is not limited only to red-breasted nuthatches. Large numbers of two other irruptive species, purple finches and pine siskins, also are appearing in the state this season. During the recent Atlanta Christmas Bird Count, we saw numerous pine siskins and several flocks of purple finches (often confused with our more common house finch). An extremely rare visitor — a snowy owl — from the Arctic also showed up on St. Simons Island this winter, drawing birders from near and far to get a glimpse of it.
IN THE SKY: The moon will be first quarter on Friday (Jan. 18), said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus rises out of the east about an hour before sunrise. Mars is low in the southwest just after dark and sets in the west a few hours later; it will appear close to the moon tonight. Jupiter rises out of the east about an hour before sunset. Saturn rises out of the east about midnight. Mercury is too close to the sun for easy observation.
