Tag: bird

Downy Woodpecker Family

I see and hear various woodpeckers in my area. There is only one kind I have been able to catch the babies peaking out of the tree hole of the nesting tree. It is the Downy woodpecker.

Downy Woodpecker Family – Baby

I usually can at least find the tree the babies are in because I heard them making sounds begging for food. It does not always mean you will be able to catch sight of the hole. Sometimes by the time you hear the babies start making the sounds, the hole may be well camouflaged by leaves.

Downy Woodpecker Family – Dad

The parents are usually fairly close by pecking at trees for bugs. Sometimes they even look for food on the nest tree.

Downy Woodpecker Family – mom

I have no idea what kind of food they caught in either of these pictures. Our woods is full of bugs due to all the rain we have experienced the past year, so they won’t go hungry.

Downy Woodpecker Family – Mom feeding baby

I believe the babies have fledged from this particular tree, but I know of at least three other trees in the same woods where the Downy babies were still in the hole. This pictures were before sunset, taken from a distance, and heavily cropped.

If you go to All About Birds the babies sound kind of like this in the woods when they are in the tree, but soon to fledge. I usually start hearing them right before they fledge.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/sounds

Walk slow and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. What woodpeckers do you see along your journeys?

Great Blue Heron

These were taken on the Hudson River on a cloudy, November day near the time the sun would set. The people in the village I viewed him from named him Fraser. I was told he is there everyday. In a period of about 15-20 minutes I saw him catch four little fish. I am sure he will be flying south soon to a warmer locale. He may be the same bird I saw last year.

Tiny fish in his mouth
Got one
The fish fought for his life, but the heron won.
Off to a better fishing hole