Tufted Titmice and Chickadees take on a greedy Eastern Chipmunk for superiority of a stash of choice bird seed - note I said "bird seed" not Chipmunk seed! Watch to the end to see who wins this Titanic Battle of wits - I'm not betting on the hairy mammal's little brain!
A Blue Jay in Smoky Mountains who has never seen peanuts looks quizzically at them and does not know what to do with them until the always savvy Tufted Titmouse shows it the way. A Florida Jay would have had all four peanuts to itself in short order, but in the high dense forest at 4000 feet I've noticed Blue Jays are rare and dare I say a bit "shy". They even make different calls than in Florida, sort of pensive lonely calls as in this video clip: Blue Jays unusual call
Tufted Titmouse excitedly calling at dawn at a flying squirrel feeding station. This little expressive and excitable bird is one of my forest favorites!
A Tufted Titmouse finds a bonanza of seed all to itself high in the Great Smokey Mountains. It makes repeated trips stocking up the seeds in a secret cache and eating a few. Generally these are lower elevation birds, but this is at 4,000 elevation. Their eyes are quite evocative and their faces quite expressive.
Extreme close-up of a Tufted Titmouse and Black Capped Chickadee taking turns at a bird seed bonanza provided high in the forest of the Great Smoky Mountains when a Dark Eyed Junco arrives and decides to stake its claim to the whole seed pile. A game of "King of the Mountain" ensues and in the process the greedy Junco spills more seeds than it can eat. Of course it will clean them up on the ground later.
Every once in awhile Nature blesses one with the unusual and unexpected. Such was the case on a recent field trip into the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.
On October 14th I was having some fun with young Red Squirrels and Chipmunks by placing a little bird seed mix on a large fallen Black Cherry log next to an Eastern Hemlock Tree on a steep bank beside a small stream at the edge of dense forest behind the cabin. The chipmunks and squirrels were fast learners and in relatively short order a Black-Capped Chickadee and a Tufted Titmouse found the seed and started making frequent trips back and forth to the log.
I was filming this routine action just for fun when suddenly a male White-Breasted Nuthatch landed center stage in the middle of the log and put on a continuous two-plus minute "dance" - or ballet if you will - to scare off chipmunks to the left and right and a red squirrel on the Hemlock just in front of him that was simply incredible. It's purpose was to make himself look big and scary no doubt - much like our Screech Owls do at times when confronted with a threat.
Well it worked, for over two minutes as the film rolled this little Nuthatch put on quite a show that had elements of a defensive and a courtship dance while the furry mammals watched, no doubt in amazement, from the cheap seats. Towards the end of the dance the Nuthatch appears to get a bit tired - it was quite a physical dance with its long legs pushing hard against its tail feathers to anchor himself to the log and then sway and sashay around the log. It is certainly a strong little bird and more beautiful than many people give it credit for. Incredibly it did the performance for the reward of exactly one sunflower seed!
After it left a Chickadee made a quick grab at a seed and the chipmunk and squirrel were just getting ready to return when the Nuthatch came back and scared them off again with a brief display and a quick seed grab. After that the Nuthatch never returned and the mammals came back to finish off the seed. Probably a one-in-a-million performance!
I will never forget this little bird that put on one of the most amazing and unexpected dance performances. I was able to capture the complete two-minute "ballet" from arrival to departure and as near as I can tell there is no other such complete and extended footage on the "web". It illustrates the under-appreciated beauty, grace, strength, and character of the White-Breasted Nuthatch. This little bird shows how nature is always full of surprises for even the most jaded observers.
