White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have written before about the likelihood that nuthatches and chickadees expend more energy opening a black-oil sunflower seed than they can possibly get from the kernel. It must be a close run thing. Still they persist in prying the seeds open, so either they really like the taste or they do get more out of the effort than they put in. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I introduced the subject of how birds deal with food yesterday, specifically the differences between chickadees and nuthatches. Chickadees use their feet like hands to hold their seeds, etc. while working on them. This is the other method. The White-breasted Nuthatch carries the seeds off and finds a crack…in the wood of our deck rail here, but often in the bark of a tree…where it can wedge the seed in to hold it like a vice while it deals with getting it open and the kernel out. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have been observing the different ways birds deal with food they take from our feeders. Specifically the clear difference between nuthatches and chickadees. Both chickadees and nuthatches carry the food away in their beaks, but chickadees use their feet like we use hands…to hold the food, while balanced on the other leg…as they dissect it. Nuthatches do not use their feet at all…they wedge the food in a crack to do their dissecting. It does not matter what kind of food. The chickadee here has a mealworm, but they deal with sunflower seeds the same way. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th. And a very happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Another of the blue attitudes…this time the contemplative look. No one does it better! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I honestly do not ever get tired of watching chickadees. And they are always reliable photo subjects…often up to something interesting. I caught this one with its tongue out as it foraged among the spilled mealworms. It is easy to forget that birds have tongues. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — We put the mealworms out for the bluebirds, but, of course, most of our feeder birds enjoy them. The chickadees are always right there, often before the bluebirds, when I put out a fresh serving. The light and the background on this shot provide visual interest. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Dark-eyed Junco, White-winged race, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — yesterday we featured a proud Bluebird. While I was photographing it, this Dark-eyed Junco was on the deck under it harvesting spilled seed…perfectly happy to be plain gray. 🙂 We have the White-winged race of the junco in southern Maine, along with the more common Slate-colored…and I am pretty sure many of the lighter colored (or lighter gray) birds are intergrades, as the white in the wings is very subtle. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.