Biodiversions: Pygmy Nuthatch

By Elizabeth Enslin | Posted on May 19, 2009

I’ve been planting fruit trees, digging up sod, preparing vegetable beds, and planting seeds on our property in northeastern Oregon.  But especially on hot days, it’s tempting to wile away the hours in the shade of some old apple trees downhill from our yurt and watch the birds - yellow-bellied sapsuckers, bluebirds, sparrows, wrens.  Each of the ten or so trees has at least one cavity that contains an active nest.  I’m especially intrigued by the pygmy nuthatches (Sitta pygmaea).

Pygmy nuthatch in old apple tree near Flora, Oregon