Strange behavior for a nuthatch

As I have mentioned before in my journal, nuthatches habitually fly to a tree, land on the trunk, and then walk down. If Harvey (see yesterday's blip) has placed peanuts on the ground, the nuthatches will walk down the tree, hop off onto the ground, grab a peanut, and fly off. This behaviour can be observed repeatedly. Cardinals, chickadees, and tufted titmice fly from the tree branches to the ground to pick up the peanuts, but not the nuthatches. I'm wondering if it is a genetic behavior?

Normally, although this doesn't really seem like normal behavior, I guess it is for a nuthatch, this sequence happens very quickly. Land on the trunk...walk rapidly down to the bottom...hop off the trunk...grab a peanut...and be gone! Just like that. Capturing a picture of a nuthatch usually requires quick action on the part of the photographer. Today's nuthatch was different. She got to this point on the tree trunk and sat there...and sat, and sat, and sat. She didn't move any lower on the trunk, and she didn't fly away. I walked closer, took some pictures, asked the bird if she was all right, waved another walker over to see the unusual phenomenon, took more pictures, and still she sat there. The only thing that moved were her eyes. She was still perched there when I left. Very strange. I hope she has flown off when I get back to the park tomorrow.

Blipping early today because we are expecting company from out-of-town. If you missed yesterday's blip about Harvey and the Birds' Buffet, I hope you will take a minute to check it out. I wanted to share his story on Blipfoto because he is such a sweet man.