Freshly Fledged

Here's a really quick blog post in the midst of busy times - I just had to share!

This morning I awoke to the hairy woodpecker making quite a racket outside my bedroom window.  He's not usually that vocal and I wondered what was up.  I watched him for a while and nobody was chasing him or causing any distress that I could see.  Then I wondered....does he have a baby out there?

I went out quietly to let the chickens out as usual, and sure enough, the woodpecker was still there, chirping loudly at something.  I ventured closer (the male hairy woodpecker lets me get very close when he's on the feeder so I wasn't too concerned).  Sure enough, there on the ground was his wee son, all wet and bedraggled. 

I used the zoom lens so as not to disturb him too much.

After watching Dad feed him a few times, I moved him, because I'm worried about the neighbor's cat.  I put him to a higher location, up on the post where I keep my clothespins and weather station components. 

I continued to watch Dad bring him insects.

Learning to climb is tricky for young woodpeckers!

"Dad!  Dad!  What did you bring me?"

"Yum!  Thanks Dad!"

I hope he learns to get up off the ground quickly and go on to live a long, insect-fuelled life!

Friday's Hunt 4.20

Another busy week has come and gone.  This week's prompts from Eden Hills are:  Starts with T, Black and White, and Paper.

Starts with T
A tender moment between our two rabbits - Pippin in front and Epinette behind.  They groom each other a lot, and I always think it's rather sweet to watch how they interact and care for each other.  When treats are involved, then it's every rabbit for him/herself!

Black and White
I see a lot of woodpeckers in my yard at this time of year - they are especially interested in my suet feeder.  Most woodpeckers here are exclusively black and white, with touches of red on the head of the males. Here is a hairy woodpecker (male) I photographed last week who is removing the bark from a spruce tree in the yard - probably finding insects underneath the bark.

Paper
It is not uncommon to find paper wasp nests attached to various places on our house.  I don't actually see that many wasps, but I do see their homes.  I try to remove the nests when they are small, but sometimes I miss one.  This one was under the balcony deck that is outside our bedroom.

I like bees but I am not a big fan of wasps, although I recognize they have their place in the ecosystem.  That said, I find their ability to form these "paper" nests from wood fibre to be absolutely amazing.  They are talented insects!  I also love looking at paper fragments from the nests - there is so much variation in colour and texture.  It is like artisanal craft paper - quite remarkable.

Wild Bird Wednesday

My work has been very busy for the past week or so, with no sign of letting up, so I haven't had as much time to blog as I would like.  I'm trying to keep up with 2 posts a week for now.  Yesterday on a break from my work, I took a wander around the woods in my yard to see what I might find, and I was well rewarded!

The chickadees were in their usual frenzy for seeds, and I carry a little jar with me so I can keep up feeding them by hand while looking for other birds.  I feel that the activity and chattering of the chickadees actually brings in other curious birds who are looking for a snack.  Yesterday, I managed to see both the hairy and downy woodpeckers who came to visit with the chickadees.

Here is the smaller, downy woodpecker - this one is a male as you can see from the red on the back of his head.

Here is the somewhat larger hairy woodpecker - this time a female.  She came really close, watching the chickadees taking seed from my hand.  She probably thinks they're crazy!

She would rather be looking for insects on the bark of the trees.

I then heard large wing beats go past my head, and thought a crow was coming to visit.  Imagine my surprise when I looked up to see the huge pileated woodpecker on a trunk just above me.  This picture isn't cropped at all - it was really close!  Their wingspan is over 2 feet - they are definitely large birds.

This one is a female - the male has red on that patch just under the eye, whereas the female has black. This was the first time I'd seen one at our new home, and the first time I'd seen one in many years, actually.  I was really pleased.  She flew to another tree a bit further away and did some drilling.

This is another new bird I saw yesterday for the first time - the blue-headed vireo.  The picture isn't great, but it was staying high in the tree, and I didn't have good photo opportunities.  It is distinguished by the clear white eye ring and the darker spot underneath the eye, as well as the light under-belly area and faint yellow colouring, as well as the wing patterns.  I'm hoping to have better photo opportunities for this bird soon.

A little bonus bird - a juvenile cedar waxwing I spotted on my waterfowl park visit last week.

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday!

Visit from a Woodpecker

I was feeding the chickadees the other day, when a larger bird swooped by and the chickadees scattered.  I thought at first it was a crow, but it was only a woodpecker who had momentarily caught the chickadees off guard.  I had the camera with me, so I was able to take some pictures of the woodpecker as she made her way up the pole that supports my clothesline.

How do I know it's a "she" and not a "he?"  The male has a patch of red on the back of his head.  This one didn't have that feature, so it's a female.

This is the Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus).  It's very similar in many ways to the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens).  How can you tell them apart?  Most people say that the easiest way to tell them apart is that the hairy is larger than the downy.  That's useful to know, but it's not always helpful if you don't have both of them in front of you to compare.  The downy is about 6-7 inches (15-18 cm) long, whereas the hairy is about 9-9.5 inches (22-24 cm) long.  At a distance, it can be hard to say.

My preferred method of telling them apart is beak length, which you can see fairly well even by eye, and very well with binoculars.

The smaller downy woodpecker has a smaller beak that is about a quarter of the total distance from the tip of the beak to the back of the head.  The larger hairy woodpecker, as I've tried to show in the picture below, has a beak that is at least a third and sometimes almost half of the distance from the tip of the beak to the back of the head.  That's my way of knowing which is which.

It was lovely to have her visit the yard.  She went all the way up the laundry post and flew away once she got to the top.  I hope I'll see her again!