Red-bellied Woodpeckers

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Kimberly Writes: Masked marauders are forcing us to take all of our bird feeders in at night. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. The most recent reward is watching our adult male Red-bellied Woodpecker teaching his kid the ropes. Male and female RBWOs often divide the parenting duties once the young have fledged, so you'll often see just one or the other with part of the brood. We're happy that one of the adults selected our yard for his kid's training grounds!

He has an affinity for oranges...


 ...and peanuts!

So, of course, the kid learned how to exploit these two offerings first. 



The kid's first attempts were awkward and comical,
but now it's feeding like a boss!


And while it's figured out the bird feeder gig, dad is still teaching it how to search for grubs and other goodies in our dead ash trees.


Dad delivers a juicy snack to the youngster, 

providing some incentive for the kid to search on his own.



I hope you're enjoying wonderful observations like these in your yard too. And please remember: always leave dead trees standing whenever it's safe to do so. The woodpeckers and many other birds will thank you!

Learn more about Red-bellied Woodpeckers on the Audubon website.http://www.audubon.org/field-gu…/bird/red-bellied-woodpecker

Comments

  1. RohrerbotJuly 30, 2016 at 1:02 PM

    Absolutely! I am loving watching all the young ones attempt to feed like their parents do. We have the same thing going on here in Tucson with our Gila Woodpeckers. Absolutely adorable! Although I don't think they'd like me to use the word adorable:) They are after all, birds:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kimberly KaufmanJuly 30, 2016 at 1:21 PM

      Thanks for stopping by our blog and sharing your observations, Chris!

      Delete

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