Feeding the Birds

February 20-21, 2020

We enjoy watching the birds every morning at breakfast, and we try to make sure they have food. The downy woodpeckers and the nuthatches are daily visitors, but only occasionally does the larger hairy woodpecker like this one visit our feeders. Its appearance is almost identical to the downy, but it is considerably larger and has a longer beak in relation to the size of its head. February 20.

Certainly one of our favorite visitors to the suet feeders is the one we call "big red" or "redhead", formally the yellow-bellied sapsucker or red-bellied sapsucker in the books.

One interesting thing about this bird is its formal security routine before it comes to the feeder. It will land 6 or 8 feet above the feeder on the tree and formally turn its head in each direction, then drop down to the suet feeder. February 21.

The downy woodpecker shares the suet with a sparrow.

A brave pine warbler shares the suet with the big sapsucker. But this nuthatch gives it up and flies off to get some black sunflower seeds.