When I walked into the garden this morning, two downy woodpeckers were on the trunk of the large tulip poplar. They were so engaged with each other that they let me approach quite close.
The woodpeckers were pecking at the trunk and hopping around. I saw them jump toward each other and touch beaks, in what I thought might be a mating display. My bird book, however, tells me that males have a red patch at the back of the head, females have no red, and juveniles sometimes have red markings near the forehead. So it appears the male was feeding the young woodpecker.
Downy woodpeckers have stiff tail feathers to brace them as they cling to the bark of a tree, where they poke looking for insects. I'm amazed at how well the black-and-white markings camouflage the bird in the dappled sunlight on the trunk. They are by far the smallest of the woodpeckers (6 inches long) that visit the garden.
2 comments :
How cute is that...we are up to 3 eggs in the robin's nest and she is staying put most of the time this go around...
Donna, I never get tired of watching birds.
Guess the robin's learning how to be a mother ...
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