Big Foot

I learned a new word today: anisodactyl. That's the configuration of toes typical of songbirds, 3 in front and 1 behind, demonstrated quite nicely by this nuthatch. But what impressed me most about this bird was not the arrangement of toes, but the size of his feet. They are virtually talons! All for running up and down trees with - mainly down, of course, as nuthatches like to go head first.

Not the easiest birds to photograph as they rarely sit still (and I would have liked this to be just a little sharper), but white-breasted nuthatches are the second most common visitors to our feeder after chickadees and so they deserve a blip.

A nice article on nuthatches here