Mini-Update: Nuts about Nuthatches

Belated mini-update from last weekend's quick trip down to Durham to visit my brother. This was actually my first time in North Carolina, and one of very few trips to the South. It was a highly enjoyable time in a quintessential college town, and I even got to do a little early morning birding. For whatever reason, suburban Durham has a surprising number and diversity of birds (I wracked up 29 state birds in two days despite not visiting any real "hotspots"), including an unusual number of Brown Thrashers, and some good looks at a Yellow-billed Cuckoo*. However, the highlight was undoubtedly my lifer Brown-headed Nuthatch. These adorable little birds are very common south and east of DC (i.e. on the Eastern Shore), but almost impossible to find within a reasonable drive of me. However, I spotted one within ten minutes of my first morning, chattering away in a pine tree by the small reservoir near my brother's house. With the White-breasted Nuthatch (one of my very first lifers, more than 10 years ago, and seen hundreds of times since) and Pygmy Nuthatch (saw several in the mountains of California), that leaves only my nemesis bird, the Red-breasted Nuthatch to round out my ABA area Nuthatch list. And with a major southern irruption reported this fall, I think this may be my year!

North Carolina Life List: 29
US Life List: 361
World Life List: 899

* Don't think I'll bother in this instance of listing all the Mockingbirds, Cardinals, House Sparrows etc. - the others are pretty much what you would expect to see in any East Coast birdy suburb.