#blue nuthatch

Day 223, after another break (aka i was on a camping trip), it’s the blue nuthatch! Fantastic little birds, I was not expecting this guy when looking up nuthatches. 

Blue Nuthatch vs Common Ground Dove

sources under cut

Blue Nuthatch Propaganda

"Cuties!! I see nuthatches depicted decently often, but never this guy!"

No other nuthatch is patterned quite like this guy! While most nuthatch have a combination of steel blue, white, and rusty rufous feathers, the Blue Nuthatch is the only one to sport a full mask.

Also unique to this species is the ability to protect its eyes by contracting the bare skin around them to help cover them up.

Common Ground Dove Propaganda

"THIS is the ultimate small pigeon. so you look at its photo and looks round and pigeon-like and you think oh okay i guess it's one of the normal species of pigeon, WRONg. google how it looks like when someone holds it in their hand. you would not BELIEVE how impossibly TINY this thing is and i want to hold it so so so badly it has no right to be this smol"

"When males compete for food or mates they may make sharp cooing calls and raise one or both wings, revealing chestnut wing-patches. A courting male follows the female and keeps doing this, sometimes flying after her to stay near."

Their song is often described as sounding like "No Hope"

ONLY ONE CAN WIN!!!