I’ve previously posted about how nature comes right up to the house. This has allowed my husband and I to get to know some of the regular visitors to the point where we give them names:

• “Hoover” is an opossum, so named because opossums seem to be nature’s clean-up crew.
• “Charlie” is a red-bellied woodpecker. They are adorably shy and beautiful and, let’s face it, “Charlie’s here!” is a lot easier to say than his proper name.
• “Phil” was a ring-necked pheasant that practically adopted us for a year, coming around for peanuts from the low feeder and dirt baths in the front garden. (I’m saving his picture for Valentine’s Day, a cute shot of when he brought his girl around.)

But my all-time favorite visitor so far was/is “Little Red.” Little Red is our name for red-breasted nuthatches. They aren’t terribly flashy but they are spunky and brave. During our first full summer here, I saw a post on Facebook from Jocelyn Anderson Photography. She sometimes posts videos of what she calls the Hand of Snacks. Wild birds come right up and take food from the palm of her hand. Of course I had to try it.

I stood under the pine tree off our porch where we hang the bird feeders and raised an open hand full of peanuts. The black-capped chickadees sent up their alarm call but they were interested. They flitted around the branches above me as if daring each other to be the first one to take a peanut. Enter Little Red. You can see him on the branch above my hand, near the tree trunk.

Little Red seemed to make the chickadees braver. That day I got three or four takers before my arm got tired. But, that summer was magical because Little Red was smart. I spent a lot of time standing outside with a handful of peanuts because the experience of feeding wild birds was so new. Little Red caught on. He would fly to meet me the second I came out the garage door. I didn’t even have to stand under a tree, he’d swoop down to my hand to take his peanut, and often came by for a second helping before my session was done. That summer I felt like Snow White.

Here’s a closer shot of a red-breasted nuthatch when I set up our field camera on the trunk of the same pine tree:

It’s now around the same time of year as when that picture was taken. Sure enough, this past week a red-breasted nuthatch is again visiting the pine tree. It’s possible but unlikely to be the original Little Red, but he’s already swooped down to my Handful of Peanuts once. I promise you he will not go hungry.