Hi tweets,

After listening to the recent comments about White-breasted Nuthatches,
namely:

" The parents would catch insects then land on top of the box and
repeatedly bash the insects about."

and

"Between catches it would butt its bill against a rock. We didn't know
if it was killing
the insects or rearranging them in its bill"

I remembered reading something about this. Sure enough, after a couple
minutes of searching, I found a reference to it in Hal H. Harrison's book
titled "Bird Nests" (the eastern one). He writes:

"Strange behavior called "bill sweeping," seen only during the nesting
season, may be a territorial defense mechanism. Both birds engage in
prolonged (several minutes) sweeping of bill in a wide arc in or outside
cavity, generally with an insect held in bill. Unproven theory is that a
crushed insect may repel squirrels searching for available cavity. It is
considered unlikely that this is courtship behavior."

Harrison does not make a reference to this in "Western Bird Nests," but
he does make mention of the nesting behaviors of other nuthatches
including Red-breasted's smearing pitch around the entrance hole
(supposedly some birds have actually been found dead, stuck to this).
Pygmy and Brown-headed nuthatches "weatherproof" the cavity by covering
any cracks or holes that might expose the nest to outside conditions,
with downy plant material.

The Stokes "Guide to Bird Behavior Volume II" also mentions this behavior
on page 138. I don't feel there is a need to quote it though, because it
says essentially the same thing as above. It does add however, "Bill
sweeping often occurs before and after periods of nest building, but it
can also be seen, especially in late afternoon, during the incubation and
nestling phases."

It is my guess that this is what the people (sorry I forgot your names)
described. Any thoughts?


Michael Dossett
Shoreline, Washington
mpdossett at juno.com

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