Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)

It's been ages since I posted anything about my birding activities and thought that I should set that right.  Right now, or it will be put on the back burner again!

Lighting note: I have to confess that these shots aren't very sharp because they were mostly taken from behind dirty glass windows on a fairly overcast day, or should I say late afternoon?  For the feeder shots, I used a flash which I bounced off a white board to diffuse the light on the bird and set the flash up at an angle to eliminate the reflection on the glass. The images of the birds in the trees were taken in natural light.

This shot was actually a Fall shot, but the Downy Woodpecker was a bonus! :)

Since I recently hung up a suet feeder on my balcony, a male Downy Woodpecker has been a daily visitor, visiting several times a day.  I also saw a White-breasted Nuthatch on the first couple of days, but somehow haven't seen him after that.  Maybe the Downy is hogging the feeder and doesn't allow anyone else to partake of the tasty suet cake.

Downy Woodpeckers are fairly tiny birds that are primarily black and white with predominantly black upperparts, white-spotted black wing feathers, and a white back and belly.  The adult males have a red cap, which is missing in females, but the juvenile males often have a small red crown.

It can be very tricky to differentiate between the Downy and the Hairy Woodpecker.  They both look almost exactly the same except the Downy has a shorter beak than the Hairy Woodpecker, and the Hairy is slightly larger in size as well.  There is also a difference in the colouring of the tail feathers, but I find it hard to distinguish from a distance. Just to demonstrate the difference between these species, note the bill sizes in the following images:

Downy Woodpecker has a shorter bill

Hairy Woodpecker has a relatively longer bill

These birds are not migratory and I have seen them all year round in the little park in front of my building.  Seeing that they visit a neighbour's feeder, I thought of getting one of my own.  And ever since then, the little birdie has been honouring me with his visits.  They primarily peck on the bark surface of trees during the summer but have to dig deeper during the winter months.  Since it's difficult to come by insects during the winter, they tend to feed on leftover berries on the trees or at backyard suet feeders, like mine.

Originally, I had hung the feeder on the hook that wasn't quite visible from inside, and photographing the birds at the feeder would be difficult through a double-glass window with a screen to boot.  There were quite a few birds visiting the suet feeder, including chickadees, starlings, a nuthatch and of course the house sparrows.  I had an idea - I decided to move the feeder over to the other hook which was more visible, and I could push the mesh screen over to the other side to get a clearer view.  And there was no double-glass there. I also thought it would be really interesting to watch what the birds do with this relocation.

Very interestingly, the woodpecker flew into the balcony at the exact level at which the suet feeder had been suspended in its original location, and when he flew in he floundered and clawed the air for a second unable to find his perch!  He was very taken aback and somehow found his wings, so to speak and flew over to the wall and sat there looking very surprised. He spied the feeder at the new location within a second of course, and then flew over to it.

As I had guessed, he didn't start feeding right away - he sat there, hanging on to the feeder, looking all around him.  I was standing very close to the glass door and he definitely saw me because he sat there watching me for at least a couple of minutes.  When he perceived no threat from me, he went about warily pecking at the suet cake.  Very interesting but predictable behaviour.

I'm yet to see his female counterpart and I'm wondering where she could be.  They normally nest together, but I haven't seen the female at the feeder at all. Albeit, I haven't seen her in the vicinity even during the summer months.  I have always seen the male pecking away vigorously.  Is it a case of a celibate pecker?  Hmmm!

This last shot was taken when it was almost pitch dark outside and the lights had come on.  I observed this light created a nice sun-like backdrop and fired off a few shots before the bird decided to call it a day and flew home.  I wasn't thinking on my feet right then, because in hindsight I thought I should have powered down the flash and created a backlit image of the woodpecker.