Ground foraging White-breasted Nuthatch (Arapahoe)

[Jared Del Rosso]

This morning, I watched a White-breasted Nuthatch act a bit like a Rock Wren, foraging on and in my stone fire pit, the landscaping rocks surrounding the pit, a nearby rotted log, and through a small patch of flower garden replete with rocks and dead branches. (My yard's in west Centennial, Arapahoe County.) The nuthatch flew low, spot to spot, as it did this. The bird didn't seem injured; it would later fly into trees in my yard and forage in more typical, nuthatch fashion. It came and went with a companion White-breasted Nuthatch. The ground forager's companion stayed in my yard honeylocust trees, though it did inspect the trunk of one of them very near to the ground. 

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO