We had a rather nice surprise yesterday... after seven years of feeding the birds here.... a male Great Spotted Woodpecker [Dendrocopos major) Pic Épieche discovered, after around twenty minutes of hesitation and failed attempts.... how to use the bird feeders... well, the fatball feeder.
And he was back this morning... rather a lovely sight... and very interesting to see how delicately it feeds. But I suppose that is down to not having to chisel its way to the grub!
So, here's a picture post.... with captions to tell the story as events unfolded....
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| I suddenly saw him arrive... they never usually come this close... |
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| He then moved even closer to the feeding station.... |
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| Then he moved up onto the feeder.... you can clearly see the red patch at the rear of his cap... that clearly shows he's a he! Females have no red on the head. |
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| He hopped closer to the fatball feeder... watching what the female sparrow was doing. |
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| He hopped all around the feeder, studying it.... and watching what the sparrows were doing.... |
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| He made an attempt to reach the feeder, but he branch... well, twig actually.... was too thin and he lost his balance!! |
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| He let go and flew to the other end... he was a little shocked I think and raised his crest! |
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| He then hopped back and forth along the main feeder branches... he spent quite a while doing this.... when, suddenly everything seemed to click.... |
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| And he was there.... and stayed for quite a while... and came back twice today!! |
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| This is a cropped area from the previous shot... you can very clearly see the long, thin tongue that woodpeckers have... |
So a rather nice Easter weekend treat... even if I was taking photos through the double-glazed kitchen window.... a today, a female has also been seen closer to the house than normally... spotted by Pauline that one....
other bird news, we think we must have robins this year... there are two still around and seem happy in each other's company... so probably a pair.
This year's dominant male Black Redstart is one of last years brood and still looks like a juvenile/female but with a noticeably darker face.
The male Stonechat is not impressed and keeps chasing him!!
2 comments:
Great but watch out. We had one come last year BUT it also tried to break in to the nearby nest box with young Bluetits in. Did a great deal of damage but hopefully we stopped it with plywood and duct tape before it got to the young...
Lovely pictures! We have wood peckers around but we rarely see them in the garden and I have never seen any brave enough to go to the feeding station. Amelia
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