Today I’ll catch up on some photos submitted by the most regular of photo regulars: Stephen Barnard and Diana MacPherson. Diana first:
Here are a couple of photos I took of a female downy woodpecker a red squirrel. The red squirrels are rare at my feeder (I guess they prefer the woods where pines are) but this one seems to want some seeds. The red squirrels are cute because they are so small but they are really high strung and this one was afraid of the grey squirrel under the feeder so it scurried up a nearby maple tree & looked like this. I often hear red squirrels in the woods are work chattering angrily.Female Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) on fat:
American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) Hides from Grey Squirrel in Maple Tree:
Today he got his noms though there was a hawk around & he would suddenly get freaked out & run to the maple tree, flicking his tail. I didn’t see the hawk when he did this (I saw it earlier) and the birds didn’t seem to see anything earlier. I like how you can really see the red on his back & tail in these pictures! He’s so dainty!
And Stephen’s photos from Idaho (more to come this week), featuring landscapes, woodpeckers, and eagles:
Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus):
I lost the caption for this, but I believe it described Desi, one of the two bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) resident on Stephen’s property (the other is Lucy), eating the remains of a Canada goose (Branta canadensis, which it probably didn’t kill), surrounded by black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonia) hoping for scraps.
I don’t think I sent this before. Idaho high desert, midwinter.
The Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers seem to be very abundant as we have lots of them. Very good pictures. Just put out a feeder and watch.
Again, very nice pictures!
I think I still have to continue my lessons at the woodpecker university!
🙂
When they’re together, it’s (usually) no challenge separating the Downy from the Hairy, but when apart you might need an extra look. One of the best ways is to look at the bills–see above how much longer and thicker the Hairy’s looks compared to the Downy. I also find the size and “separation” of the head distinctive–the Hairy’s is relatively larger and more clearly separated from the body (it has more of a neck) while the Downy’s is much less so.
Diana’s shot of the female Downy also shows a good species-specific characteristic–the little black spots/stripes on the white outer tail feathers; Hairies don’t have these.
Thanks for these precious infos! I’m taking notes!
I was just thinking to myself that “Hairy Woodpecker” seemed like a silly name. Now that I know “Downy Woodpecker” was already given out it makes a little more sense!
Your comment made me Google “how did the Hairy Woodpecker get its name?,” which immediately yielded two completely different reasons, neither of which made a lot of sense to me. I just appreciate that at least the Downy & the Hairy aren’t yet more woodpeckers with names starting with “Black.” (Or “Red,” for that matter.) 😉
Very nice. I experimented with a large birdfeeder last summer, using a variety of seeds. After a few re-loadings I gave it up because a) the birds would clear out ~ a half gallon of seeds in less than a week so I had to frequently restock it, and b) they pooped everywhere. I admire those who can keep it up.
I think we do better with suet for the Woodys, those tube like feeders for the finches and then larger bags of sunflower seeds/corn that is called Cardinal food. Thistle in those little screen type feeders are also good.
You can spend some bucks on this stuff but my wife is good at finding the places with lower prices.
I have literally hundreds of birds at my feeders — finches, chickadees, doves, and magpies, and kestrels and sharp-shinned hawks that prey on them. I buy black oil sunflower seed in bulk. They eat about a gallon a day. It makes a mess, but I’ll clean it up with a power washer in the spring.
I feed the same and buy in bulk. The fat is free from the butcher at the grocery store and the woodpeckers especially like it.
Many birds love cracked corn, which is available cheaply in bulk and doesn’t make as much of a mess.
Very cute shots, Diana! You must have polite Canadian Red Squirrels…here the Reds lord it over the Grays despite the size difference.
Stephen, cool close-ups of the Hairy working on a hole–perhaps a future nesting site?
That snowscape is beautiful–love the light on the far ridges to the right!
The reds here are normally feisty too but not this one. It could be he was far from his woods and was nervous so played it safe. The grays, I’ve heard, will attack and kill the reds.
I’ll pass that along to my grays…maybe that will help their self-esteem…
I have both reds and grays in my American back yard, along with a couple of albino grays (judging by the size). It is clear that the reds rule as they are the only ones allowed to eat my house, apparently.