This morning in my quiet room outside the side window we have another bird feeder secluded under a tree, I spied a Downy Woodpecker. This is a image of a male. You would think woodpeckers feed only on trees by pecking them. These birds visiting snatch seeds from the feeder. Bird seeds such as black oil sunflower seeds I have been filling them up with. He takes the sunflower seed then finds a hallow indentation in the dogwood tree and drums on the seed shell till it opens and eats the seed inside of it. There are several drummed areas in the tree now since several woodpeckers are visiting this particular feeder. These are small birds and they are happy in urban woodlands and wilderness forests. They eat insects they find on trees, shrubs and woody weeds. The males and females look somewhat alike. Their songs are simple notes which are often repeated. Sounds like check, check, check or queek, queek, queek called the pik call. The other call is the sputter call that sound like chick, chick, chick, chrr-rr-r, which express dominance. The other call sounds like chirp, chrr, and pshir. I found the wording of these calls in the book, Bird Songs (250 North American Birds in Song) that has the bird picture, description and a button for the actual bird singing. It's a great book to identify a bird and listen to their call.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
downy woodpecker
This morning in my quiet room outside the side window we have another bird feeder secluded under a tree, I spied a Downy Woodpecker. This is a image of a male. You would think woodpeckers feed only on trees by pecking them. These birds visiting snatch seeds from the feeder. Bird seeds such as black oil sunflower seeds I have been filling them up with. He takes the sunflower seed then finds a hallow indentation in the dogwood tree and drums on the seed shell till it opens and eats the seed inside of it. There are several drummed areas in the tree now since several woodpeckers are visiting this particular feeder. These are small birds and they are happy in urban woodlands and wilderness forests. They eat insects they find on trees, shrubs and woody weeds. The males and females look somewhat alike. Their songs are simple notes which are often repeated. Sounds like check, check, check or queek, queek, queek called the pik call. The other call is the sputter call that sound like chick, chick, chick, chrr-rr-r, which express dominance. The other call sounds like chirp, chrr, and pshir. I found the wording of these calls in the book, Bird Songs (250 North American Birds in Song) that has the bird picture, description and a button for the actual bird singing. It's a great book to identify a bird and listen to their call.
