New Life Bird!

It was just at dusk and I saw this little one that looked a bit different land on the trunk of a tree not five feet from me so I quickly ran inside to grab my camera. Given the lack of light, my shutter speed was quite slow and I doubted I could get a clear shot of the bird, even with the ISO set at 500. But I was lucky that it was coming in for water and I got a good look ....... wow! juvenile white-breasted nuthatch (WBNU). It was smaller than the WBNUs I see on rare occasions so I just assumed it was a juvenile.

But when I downloaded the pictures (very blurry as I expected), it was different. It had a black eye-stripe that is lacking in the WBNU. Red-breasted Nuthatch??? No way, Cornell's Birds of North America Online says they are never in this area. But I looked at my St Louis field guide and yes, they do visit this area, although they are reported as being rare or easily overlooked, especially in September. I then checked the MO Birders List-Serve and sure enough there have been a couple of reports of the Red-Breasted Nuthatch this week.

Yee-Haw! New Life Bird. Thanks Rosie for confirmation that it is indeed a Red-breasted Nuthatch! Here's my blurry picture: