[mou] Unusual nuthatch behavior

[Christine Petersen]

Has anyone ever heard of nuthatches eating meat, or taking insects from
carcasses?

This evening I noticed a white-breasted nuthatch on the ground at the base
of our big boxelder tree, pecking vigorously at something. At first I
assumed he was working on a fallen piece of bark, but he was so enthusiastic
about it that I picked up the binoculars to get a better look. It turned out
that the "bark" had a tail... it was a dead deer mouse. Now, I can't be sure
the bird was eating meat from the carcass, but when I went outside to look,
there were no obvious invertebrates on the body -- though even if there
were, that's not the variety of invertebrates I'd think of nuthatches as
eating. 

So, is this a nuthatch feeding behavior I just haven't heard of before, or
is it as unusual as it seemed?...

Christine
on the shores of Glen Lake, Minnetonka, Hennepin Co.