The Junco And The Woopecker

I've been telling you how the Juncos here have been jealously guarding my little bird feeder. My pictures today show that better than anything else I can show you. You'll want to view the pictures in order to get the right effect.

Every time the Downy Woodpecker shows up to the feeder a gang of about three Juncos comes over to try to keep the feeder for themselves. The problem is that they just can't seem to intimidate the bigger birds, so they're usually the ones that end up leaving first.

In this first picture above you can see one of the Juncos creeping up at the edge of the picture. He's moving up slowly like a little stalker. The Woodpecker seems to be happily minding her own business on the other side of the feeder.

 Here in the second picture he's just a little bit closer. The Woodpecker is still pecking away at the feeder.

In the third picture the Junco is even closer. It moves up little by little, stopping and looking for danger every second. The Woodpecker doesn't really care as long as the Junco doesn't bother her.

Then finally the Junco gets to the feeder. It greedily grabs as many seeds as it can for itself. The Woodpecker still ignores it because it wisely stays on the other side of the feeder this time. The other birds don't usually mind the Juncos sharing the feeder, but they do get angry when the Juncos get too close.

So far I've seen this Woodpecker and both Cardinals chase these Juncos away because they tried to threaten the bigger birds. These little Juncos really push it sometimes. They're lucky that the bigger birds are usually pretty tolerant.

I'll have to keep watching and maybe try to get a video of one of the bigger birds chasing a Junco away. I'm not sure if I'll get it because the Juncos will be moving north before too long. I'll keep watching though because they're pushy little guys. I'll talk to you later.