Do you live near shortleaf pine trees? If so, you may have seen Brown-headed Nuthatches.
The Brown-headed Nuthatch is a tiny, friendly songbird that sounds like a rubber ducky. They nest and roost in snags--dead standing trees—in forests with shortleaf pines.
In August, 46 Brown-headed Nuthatches from the Ouachita National Forest were relocated to the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. The relocation’s purpose was to restore the species to Missouri, where it disappeared seventy years ago when all the shortleaf pine trees were logged. Both the shortleaf pines and the nuthatches have been reintroduced to Missouri, but here in Arkansas both are plentiful.
Enjoy your pine trees, leave snags standing, and put out a suet feeder for the nuthatches.