A friendly, polite winter visitor

This is a small songbird called a red-breasted nuthatch. It is about the size of a Carolina chickadee. There are four different kinds of nuthatches found in North America. The red-breasted nuthatch is the only one to have a distinctive black line running from its beak, through its eye to the back of its head. Other nuthatches do not have this line.

You may see this delightful bird climbing aimlessly on the trunk of a tree going up, sideways or even headfirst down searching for insects in the tree's bark. While on its acrobatic endeavor, it will likely be calling out with a polite "cheen-cheen thank-thank" chatter.

The red-breasted nuthatch will come to a winter bird feeder to snatch up a sunflower seed, parcel of a cracked peanut or meat from a cracked pecan. It will also feed at a suet cake meant for woodpeckers.

The red-breasted nuthatch migrates into Missouri during autumn, and heads back to Canada and the mountainous West in spring. They are friendly birds and one may come to light on the feeder, even while you are replenishing the seeds.

Through the Woods is a weekly nature photo column by Aaron Horrell. Find this column at semissourian.com to order a reprint of the photo. Find more work by Aaron at The Painted Wren Gallery.