Here’s a quiz for you. What’s small, gray and white, hangs upside down from the feeder and hammers nuts open with its bill?

It acts a bit like a chickadee, a bit like a woodpecker and is as small as a titmouse. Well, of course, you guessed right. It’s a nuthatch.

These acrobatic little birds are fun to watch and they are welcome guests at backyard bird feeders, especially in winter when they forage with chickadees and titmice.

As we enter that time of year, here are a few interesting nuthatch facts for you and your customers:

• Nuthatches keep predators out of the nest by applying the goo from resin or crushed beetles all around the entrance hole.

• The species got its common name from its eating habits. It wedges a seed or nut into the bark of a tree and then hammers it open using its head like a tiny hatchet.

• Nuthatches are monogamous and stay together for at least one year. White-breasted nuthatches mate for life.

• Nuthatches place one foot forward and one foot back and then hitch down a tree. By working their way down, rather than up, the bark, they are able to find insects that upward creepers overlook.

• There are 22 species worldwide; only 4 species reside in North America.

• Populations of White-breasted and Red-breasted nuthatches are increasing, in part due to backyard feeder use, according to some sources.

Encourage your customers to lure nuthatches to their feeders this winter with black oil sunflower seeds, suet or peanut butter mixes.