Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Downy Woodpecker Visits the Backyard

Video of Female Downy Woodpecker Working a Chinese Tallow Tree

We remain on alert for the beginning of Screech Owl season, but in the meantime birding has been fairly active in the backyard. Had a chance to shoot some extended video of the smallest of woodpeckers, the Downy Woodpecker. The female is little bigger than sparrow size, moves quickly and is difficult to spot in the trees. She is all black and white and often overlooked. It is rare to get a good shot of them in their wild habitat away from feeders as they will visit suet feeders. This is a long range video at 800 mm. They have a unique and cute call that rarely last more than seconds. I managed to get two calls on the video. The male Downy has a very small amount of red on the back of its head. 

No comments:

Post a Comment