Photos Return to Article Pictures from the scouting trip a week before the Wine, Wildflowers and Woodpeckers birding trip, by G. Oetzel. Pygmy Nuthatches at a nest hole in a pine in Tahoe City.
Females incubate on the nest and are fed by their mates and sometimes other family helpers.
We watched a lot of feeding activity. We watched both sexes of Black-backed Woodpeckers come and go at this nest site near Alpine Meadows, changing incubation duties about hourly. The male was not cooperative enough to perch conveniently like this while I had the camera and tripod set up. You can see in the detail at the right that she has brought back some food, apparently a nut. Most of their diet is insects, however.