Red-breasted Nuthatch

We - The Husband and both sons and I - were sitting on the front porch this afternoon having a Thanksgiving tea (yes, a day late), which largely consisted of a piece of the traditional apple pie baked by The Husband - when I suddenly spotted *something different.* It turned out to be what I thought/hoped it was! A red-breasted nuthatch! I got my camera and tried to catch it - it was very fast. It was coming and going like lightning from the tube feeder with the sunflower seed in it. Eventually I decided there was more than one of them. But in any case - here is the shot I've chosen. Not because it's a good photo particularly, but because it's so cute! I think it's probably a female - they are overall paler than the males. What I was struck by - looking at all my photos - is how small they are. Much smaller than the white-breasted nuthatch. About the same size, or maybe even a little smaller, than the chickadees! They made the tufted titmouse look like a huge bird! Extra shows a red-breasted nuthatch with a chickadee.

Red-breasted nuthatches are an "irruptive" species like the pine siskins. Some years they appear in our winter yards, some years they don't. So I always get excited when I see them.