Woodpecker-viewing Day!

[rain_gryphon]

We had two Woodpeckers at the cake feeder today!



Downy Woodpecker, or Hairy Woodpecker. I have trouble telling them apart.

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For whatever reason, Audubon named this the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. If you look really hard, you can see a tiny patch of rufous blush around the vent, and that's about it. I'm told that now and again, you can find one with a reddish belly, so presumably that was his type specimen. That, or he was fixated on the naughty bits that day.

When I was little, we didn't have these - they were a southern bird, and had been on the decline. They've been slowly spreading north since the middle of the last century, though, and becoming much more common.

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Alexandra enjoys watching the birds too!

Comments

[loganberrybunny]

I'm very fond of woodpeckers. We get two around here (Greater Spotted and European Green) and I'm always cheered to hear one, even if I can't see them. Not sure why, but the hammering is a sound I find soothing.

[rain_gryphon]

The giant maple out back is just pecked full of holes. One dead limb that had been completely hollowed out (for a nest, I suppose) finally fell off this autumn.

[moonhare]

Great photos! I cannot be certain which the first is either. I believe all of ours here are Downy (other than the Flickers).

The woodpeckers like pecking holes in my house. As they do these through the shingles where they overlap a joint below, I have to assume something tasty was hiding there. I chase them from the side and they jump to the back.

They are also very active on the dead tree branches, They look like the Chickadees when circling the wood and picking at the bark.

[rain_gryphon]

Thanks! There's this huge old maple tree that's just pecked full of holes, presumably where they were getting at bugs under the bark.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Two different kinds.. and nice photo captures too!

[xolo.livejournal.com]

We've got most varieties of Woodpecker here, including the Flickers and even some Sapsuckers.

Thanks!