SWC volunteers had a gorgeous low-humidity, partly-cloudy morning on June 11th working with residents of the Glenaire retirement community in Cary to install three new houses for brown-headed nuthatches. These small songbirds are typically found in mature pine forests with an open understory in the Southeastern United States. Fun fact: their high-pitched call is often likened to the sound of a rubber duckie! They are quite nimble, zigzagging their way up and down tree trunks and branches high in the canopy. The brown-headed nuthatch birdhouse has a 1 1/8 inch-sized hole, as opposed to the bluebird houses, which have a larger 1 1/2 inch-sized hole.
As part of its Wildlife Habitat program, SWC installs various structures to support wildlife, which have included turtle basking platforms, bee houses, and different varieties of birdhouses. So far, SWC has installed 48 bluebird houses and 15 brown-headed nuthatch houses around various public spaces in Wake County. Additional houses planned for the remainder of the year include 19 bluebird houses, 11 brown-headed nuthatch houses, 2 owl boxes, and one bat house.
South Wake Conservationists 