Home › #Photography › #Birds › KIND OF FEATHERY: A SQUARE HAIRY WOODPECKER DOING THE WORK HE WAS BORN TO DO

KIND OF FEATHERY: A SQUARE HAIRY WOODPECKER DOING THE WORK HE WAS BORN TO DO

By on • ( 14 )

THE SQUARE COMMUNITY

It’s kind of feathery in our backyard. This is a very busy Hairy Woodpecker whacking the hell out of an insect-infested tree in our woods. It’s not just this woodpecker. There are a slew of them. Half the tree has no bark because the woodpeckers have torn it off while hunting for beetles. When they get tired of beating up the tree, they fly 50-feet and eat some fresh seeds, get some water from the water dish I keep on the deck for the birds and the squirrels and chipmunks. I think it’s the only water in the area.

There are also also a mountain of acorns everywhere. Huge acorns. Even in a regular year, there’d be plenty to eat out there, but there’s no water. We got a dribble of rain today and maybe will get another dribble tomorrow. But we need serious rain and we need it soon.

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Categories: #Birds, #Photography, square, Wildlife, Woodpeckers

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14 replies

  1. jcalberta
    10/06/2020 • 11:21

    I’ve seen those around here. They must range far. Unless it’s another ‘pecker that’s similar?

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/06/2020 • 12:54

      They range all across the northern half of North America including Canada. There’s another one that looks just like them, but is smaller. They are both woodpeckers, but unrelated. The Downy (the smaller bird) copied (somehow) the feathers of the bigger, tougher bird to scare off aggressive other birds. Birds — especially woodpeckers — have a definitely mean streak and I’m sure were the “original” Angry Birds. They always look like they have a mad on. But they ARE very good at saving infested trees. This one is very near our house, so I’d really like them to save it. It’s hard to get someone to come and take down dead trees in woods when there are no paths or flat ground, but this one if if falls will land right ON the deck.

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  2. BeckyB
    10/06/2020 • 02:53

    Love watching woodpeckers when they are hard at work. Great shot. And yikes about the weather. Had not realised your part of the world was suffering as much as the west coast. Not good 😦

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    • BeckyB
      10/06/2020 • 02:54

      PS fabulous to have you back part of squares

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      • Marilyn Armstrong
        10/06/2020 • 18:20

        I intended to come back. I was just feeling really crappy for a while, but I noticed today that I’m actually beginning to feel better. Yay! We have to get flu shots … but there’s a national shortage of the high dosage stuff for older people … so we really have to be very careful. It’s 7 months since this quarantine began. It was March 12, the day after my birthday — and we are still waiting for the world to return to something like “normal.”

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        • BeckyB
          10/07/2020 • 03:15

          oh I am so glad you are turning a corner – I think September was really tough for lots of people. Hopefully we can all be a more optimistic this month, and that you get some really good news in early November xx

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/06/2020 • 12:58

      The only saving grace is that we have a very strong underground aquifer — though even that has its limits. We had a good spring rainy season and even though it didn’t snow last winter, we got a lot of rain. But then, in late July — it just stopped raining.

      The west has used up their aquifers, building city after city without nearly enough water. They are still in denial that somehow, they will pipe it down from the Great Lakes. I haven’t seen any evidence of work being done and it has been 20 year since I first heard an Arizonan say that. They truly live in denial. They have fewer fires there only because they have more desert than treees.

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  3. Teresa
    10/06/2020 • 02:15

    I am imagining that it is hard to take a still photo of the woodpecker…isn’t it constantly on the move? Or id it just my memory of the cartoons Woody woodpecker?

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