Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
A long the river bank, before the river flowed southward, was a nest built by an industrious male nuthatch who was preening himself before he continued upward along the bark of the old oak tree.
This sentence contains everything you want. The problem is that I don't know if a nuthatch would ever build a nest. They are very beautiful birds of all colors imaginable (reds and yellows). I've never seen one preening himself, but he should. He's very handsome.