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Monday, July 13, 2015

A Couple Of Woodpeckers

It's been a little too long again since my last post. I've been stuck in the house until I start to feel a bit better so I don't have much to post about. I didn't intend to take so long, but it gets hard when I'm cooped up and not really able to get excited about seeing nature in action.

I still have some things I've seen though, like these two woodpeckers, even though these pictures are actually from several months ago. At first glance they may look like two of the same kind of bird, but look again. The one on the right is much bigger than the bird on the left.

The little bird on the left is the same kind of Downy Woodpecker that I've posted before several times. The bigger bird on the right is her relative, a male Hairy Woodpecker.

The similarities between these birds are very interesting. They both look almost the same except for their size. Both male versions have that red band on the back of their head. The females don't have that. The downy here is a female and the hairy is a male.

There are differences though. As I've said, the hairy woodpecker is much bigger than the downy. The most noticeable difference after that is the length of the beaks. The downy woodpecker has a much shorter beak in relation to its head.

The bigger hairy woodpecker's beak is about the same length as its head, while the downy woodpecker's beak is very short in comparison. That's the best way to tell which one you are seeing when they are not together like in my pictures.

The strange distortions in my pictures is actually dog slobber on the window I took the pictures through. The dog gets kind of excited watching the birds. I have to constantly clean the window.

Maybe you don't consider this last picture that good, but I love it. It shows the downy woodpecker flying away. I love capturing stuff like that, no matter how it comes out.

I actually began writing this post about a week ago. I had to stop because I just wasn't feeling very good. I think I'm finally beginning to get better now, so I'm going to make an effort to start writing my posts a little sooner again.

There's a small nature park up the road that I'm going to visit quite a bit to get back into going out again. I'm hoping that if I visit it often enough that I'll begin to see some interesting stuff that I otherwise would miss. That's how I did things years ago and it worked out very well. I hope my next post is from that place. I'll talk to you later.

13 comments:

  1. Nice shots of the two woodpeckers. Around here I have all kinds of distortion on my windows. I could clean it off but it will just come right back....lol
    I've had the same idea you had about going around and taking pictures of churches. I still haven't done it yet but every time I pass one I think I should

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  2. Look at all that seed. They must love you.

    (yep...the squirrels love me too)

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  3. They have hairs around their beak that are to keep sawdust out of their eyes.

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  4. I enjoyed seeing your woodpeckers today - I hope you are better enough to go exploring with your camera soon!

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  5. I always enjoy your woodpecker pictures. They're cute little things!

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  6. That's a cool sight to see both of those woodpeckers together on the feeder. I usually only get one or the other.

    Hope you are feeling better. I do enjoy your posts.

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  7. oh, those are cute, I love seeing birds, I usually don't get to see woodpeckers in our yard, I had to go out to the nearby lake to get to see a bunch of them making noise on the tree. Glad you are feeling better now, and hope you continue to feel better.

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  8. Lovely photos of the woodpeckers! I remember having slobber and hairs absolutely everywhere when we had dogs.

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  9. Hello,

    Lovely photos of woodpeckers. Your description of the two birds is very interesting. Sometimes I see little woodpeckers when i go walking around my place. They are very lovely birds.

    I hope and pray you get well soon.

    Best wishes

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  10. I love to see squirrels, and woodpeckers, and am glad to hear from you, a nine year friend.

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  11. awesome that you get both types. we only see the downies. neat that you got them both on the feeder at the same time.

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  12. So cool to see both kinds at once at your feeder. I would never have noticed the dog slobber, but it makes a fun part of the story because thinking about how excited he gets watching the bird show through the window is cute!

    I am sorry you've been under the weather and glad you're back, we've missed you,

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  13. Interesting that they look so much alike in their markings. We have woodpeckers here, but I haven't seen them (just heard them banging away in the treetops ;o)

    Sure hope you're feeling better soon!

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