We have a natural spring by the side of the house and
this morning I sat on the porch and watched something
that made me scratch my head. Four red-breasted
nuthatches were at the head of the spring, where it is
really muddy, making all kinds of noise and sticking
their beaks into the water. Every once in a while,
they would stop, and fly over to my birdbath and drink
deeply, then fly back to the spring and continue this
behavior. They definitely were not bathing, as it was
only their beaks they were putting in the water. Any
ideas? Were they doing a taste test comparison between
the birdbath water and the spring? Or is it something
else?

This natural spring was attracting a lot of other
birds this morning, as well. The juncos were bathing,
an American robin caught itself a huge worm by the
bank, purple finches were standing in the water just
looking around, and even one of the Black-headed
grosbeaks took a bath. A towhee started to bathe, but
he got scared away when a butterfly flew into his
head.

Marian Murdoch
Belfair, WA
marianmurdoch at yahoo.com
http://countrybirding.com


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