The Feather Files
Name: Red-breasted Nuthatch
Species: Sitta canadensis
Native to and Migration: Found throughout much of Canada and the United States. Can be resident or a short-distance migrant.
Date Seen: September 2016
Location: North of Calgary, Alberta
Notes: These birds wander up, down and sideways along trunks and branches of trees. They eat mainly insects, but in fall and winter they will eat conifer seeds. We call them and other small birds like them, hoover birds. Flocks of them hop across the patio and lawn picking up the spruce seeds that our forest sheds all over our property.
Amusives 
Beautiful.
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I’d never seen one of these before we moved out of the city (we had “regular” nuthatches here); now I have dozens! They’re a lot of fun to watch.
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Yes, they are so acrobatic. They travel with Black-capped chickadees, which exhibit the same up-down-sideways food gathering activity.
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