Woodpeckers

  This young Red-headed Woopecker takes to a

 light post near my home.

 

   Downy Woodpeckers like suet.

   But they'll come after sunflower seed

   as well.

 

 

 

          A Red-headed Woodpecker came to my suet cage the other day. Among the prettiest visitors to my station, these birds show up here about once a month. I hear them more often, but they like to stay in the trees where the crawling insects reside.

      That's the story with most woodpeckers; they like to hang out in older and dying trees because of the bugs. It's their main source of food, and the reason why we see fewer of them at our feeders during the summer.

       In the winter, I'll put out extra suet and rub peanut butter (crunchy – yum!) on a tree to supplement their diets. Some woodpeckers like acorns and nuts, too, so don't be surprised to see one grab up a peanut you leave out. Fruit, sunflower seeds and even hummingbird nectar are other things woodpeckers like.

       I have had six species of them come to my feeders. The little Downy Woodpecker is the most frequent; the big, beautiful Pileated Woodpecker is the least-frequent visitor.

Here are the others:

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (yes, they suck sap)

Northern Flicker

Red-headed Woodpecker

          Most people in the eastern U.S. get the same set of woodpeckers. Up North and out West, folks have a chance at seeing even more species of woodpeckers.     

If you have a dying tree still standing in your yard, think twice before cutting it down. You may have a good chance of providing a home - as well as a food source - for these interesting, hard-headed birds. You can also buy or make a woodpecker house.

Here's what I saw at my station today:

(AM, partly cloudy, 83 degrees, 15 minutes)

Brown Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Carolina Chickadee

Common Grackle

Northern Cardinal