Big, they’re not. Active, they are.
The downy woodpeckers in Myrtle Beach are much like the ones I see at home, although the second-floor balcony gives me a better vantage point here.
This little guy spent a fair bit of time checking out a hole in the tree trunk so I had lots of time to get photos. Most of them had him in motion faster than my shutter speed . . .
. . . or with his head still, but buried in said hole.
Just one showed him in a rare moment of rest with his head visible. Just one is all I need.
One of my favourite birds ( I have MANY!) They visit my feeders regularly, along with the Hairy Woodpecker, and on Christmas morning I looked out my front window to see a Pileated Woodpecker clinging to my suet feeder ( a rare treat for me).
Alison – 🙂 We have the same ones here and in Ottawa, I think. One night at dusk I thought I saw a pileated on a tree maybe 70 feet away, but it was too dark to be sure. OTOH, what else would be that visible at that distance? They are spectacular for sure.
You did well to get one shot in perfect freeze-action
Jim R – Yes, I was pleased. Thank goodness for the multi-shot feature!
Wonder how much wood this woodchuck can chuck? He looks in pretty good shape.
Tom
Tom – I was amused to hear the woodchuck song reworked (IMO) to be a woodpecker.
One of the reasons I love woodpeckers is because I was so young when I was taught to identify them that the teaching stuck. Their industry and what it must do to the head and neck never ceases to amaze me. They are among the few birds I can identify by the sounds they are making that is not vocal. Although I have wondered if their tapping amounts to something like a Morse code. Something about their black and white feathers — and I need to ponder this impression — gives a likeness to fur, so that I fancy they are better dressed for our climate than some other birds.
Laurna – I think we underestimate the long-term impact we can have on small children by sharing our enthusiasms. What a lovely basis for a life-long interest, eh?
About eight years ago sitting in our lake house, we were suddenly under attack, enemy planes were obviously starting the house. Venturing outside I saw the bogey in the trees, a Pileated beast in the tree, having attacked our insulated wood stove chimney.
Ken – 🙂 Glad you survived the attack. That’s two respondents with attacks on metal chimneys. What were they thinking?
Mostly what I know about woodpeckers in the spring is that they loved to drill on the metal bits of my chimney. Their enthusiasm is very loud in the living room (fireplace).
Judith – Boy, it makes you wonder, no? Are they confused about the appropriate type of chimney (aka none too bright) or do they get something out of banging away on metal? And who would we ask?
well, apparently there are two reasons for woodpeckers to drum on things. One is to excavate the wood, possibly for a nest, or also possibly to find some bugs under the bark.
The second reason is to make the right kind of loud noise to attract a female partner. The louder the noise, the more attractive it makes the male seem (I think I’ve seen the same syndrome in male humans. No?). A hollow tree is more resonant than a solid tree. And a metal organ pipe, in effect my chimney, makes far more noise than any tree.
Jim T – Thanks! That explains a lot of behaviour – both in woodpeckers and in humans.