The Carolina Wren is back to entertain us. As you will see, he will not share in our amusement. He is molting (shedding) his feathers and the result is one serious itch. I’ve personally never thought about this before, but it makes sense now. When the feet you use for balance are also the hands you use to scratch an itch — life is challenging!
Feathers
White-breasted Nuthatch vs Camera
You’ve met the White-breasted Nuthatch in an earlier post — that macho, little Dracula with a Napoleon Complex. He’s back in this video, only this time his nemesis is his own reflection in a camera lens. He appears to begin the encounter by simply talking to the bird in the glass. Apparently, he’s not a persuasive speaker. He moves on to attempting to scare off the intruder with his hallmark wing-flair. It turns out it is rather difficult to flair one’s wings while perching and looking-up a tree. He clearly struggles with keeping his balance.
This challenge went on for five minutes. From a camera providing a wider view, I noted the Nuthatch circling around the tree — looking for that evasive intruder.
In the end, there was only one choice. The intruder would not leave. The Nuthatch retrieves the black oil seed he had hidden in the tree bark, and relocates it (one would assume … far, far away from that evil bird in the glass).