We often associate birds that are seen on the sides of the trees with woodpeckers, but this isn’t always the case!
Keep reading to find out which species like to climb the trees to find insects to munch on.
Woodpeckers – Family Picidae
Almost all woodpeckers are year-round residents in their territories, so as you get to know the woodpeckers in your neighborhood and yard, you can enjoy them throughout the year.
Woodpeckers offer an endlessly fascinating study in bird behavior and style. The more you watch, the more engaging they become. Part of it is anatomy. Their broad wings, stiff tail feathers, and unusual toe arrangement are ideally combined for maneuvering quickly through your trees and bushes, screeching to a halt, and grabbing onto the bark with their feet in a perfect, amazing vertical landing.
Then, using their tail for counterbalance, they almost rappel down your tree, tail first, until they reach their goal.
Creepers – Family Certhiidae
Very widely distributed across the U.S. in winter, the Brown Creeper is nonetheless inconspicuous because of it solitary nature and streaked brown plumage that blends well with the tree trunks it inhabits. Brown Creepers forage relatively low on tree trunks, where the bark has the deepest crevices in which to find insects and their larvae.
Large, dead trees are important to Brown Creepers, because they build their nests behind large, loose flaps of bark that are peeling away from a dead or dying tree. When approaching a nest, the adults fly to the base of the tree and climb the trunk rather than flying directly to the nest.
Nuthatches – Family Sittidae
The White-breasted Nuthatch is blue-gray on the upperparts, with a darker cap, a white face, throat, and underparts, and rusty-orange undertail coverts. Its bill is long and pointed, and its tail is short and square.
Males have a black cap and nape. Length: 6 in. Wingspan: 11 in.
Like other nuthatches, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is a cavity nester, and the male and female that make up a pair roost together at night in their cavity during the breeding season. They also apply sticky pine resin around the entrance to the cavity, perhaps to discourage predators.