Pausing to Chat

(Pygmy Nuthatches)

This work was sparked by the arrival of a “jar” of Pygmy Nuthatches in our backyard in Klamath, OR. Commonly in the fall and winter, these birds travel in groups of 12-20. They are about as frenetic as you can imagine and that many moving objects in a tree presents a real challenge for a photographer hoping for an in-focus picture. Dozens of shots taken through our kitchen window failed to yield one perfect picture, but I found I had reference shots galore. Painting elements from the various photos in ProCreate enabled an image that really didn’t exist other than in my mind’s eye.

Nuthatches come in several forms in Oregon. It would be hard to pick a favorite among these pugnacious little guys. They are all tiny, but the Pygmies take the cake when they land in numbers in our Aspens and busily probe breaks in bark and undersides of leaves for insects. I’m not sure if you’d ever find two stationary at once. But if you imagined them pausing to stare eye-to-eye even for a moment, you might ponder what they’d say.