This afternoon I observed a White-breasted Nuthatch carry small icicles (1" to 2" in length) to our maple and then break them apart as they typically do with food items by hammering them into bark. It consumed the broken bits of ice, even though I have a heated bird bath with fresh water. I watched carefully with binoculars and there didn't seem to be any frozen morsels in the ice, but I can't be certain. I wasn’t able to locate where it was getting the icicles from but it repeated this behavior a few times. It's always fun observing new and interesting bird behavior!
White-breasted Nuthatch image © 2007 Mike McDowell
