Sunday 2 December 2012

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The Great Spotted Woodpecker visited later in the day than I expected. So far it doesn't seem to have sampled the peanut butter, just the peanuts. That gave a Blue Tit a chance to visit the log feeder:



So far Blue Tits, Great Tits and Starlings have tried out the log feeder.

14 comments:

  1. Brilliant John. I wonder where the female GSW have gone. I have two different males visiting had a female till a couple of weeks ago.
    Makes me wonder if they all get a red fringe in winter.

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    1. Thank you Adrian. I had a feeling it came fairly often but I usually miss it.
      Can't find any info about females changing their plumage, maybe they are just very shy.

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  2. Great video of the Great Spotted Woodpecker digging in to the peanuts, and obliging for the blue tit to share the screen. The GSW is a decent size, isn't he? I have had the Downy Woodpecker visiting recently which looks to be about half the size!

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    1. Thank you Glo. GSW is 23-26cm long with a wing span of 38-44cm. According to Nation Geographic the Downy Woodpecker is 17cm.

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  3. he's very happy with the nuts. i've never tried feeding peanut butter or suet. always afraid our warm days will make it mushy or runny, plus i envision my dogs sitting under the tree where it is hung, trying to get at it. :)

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    1. TexWisGirl: Penny likes to grab any suet balls which fall down. They do advise that the peanut butter is kept out of direct sunlight. Such foods are more necessary here in very cold weather to give the birds an extra energy boost.

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  4. I love to see the variety of burdies that visit in your yard :)

    You definitely have the nack John. I'd like to know what that one on the ground with the long neck eats to the left of the feeder base? and I see the pheasant make a cameo as well.

    ps...thank you for the details on the PB feeder from a previous post Q and A. We have "Wild Bird" stores with every kind of feeder and house, ill have to look for one of these PB feeders here.

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    1. It is nice, ImaBurdie, to get a variety of birds to visit.
      Ah! You spotted my resin statue of a heron.
      The other large birds in the background were Wood Pigeons, plenty of those around here.

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  5. Nice video John! We had a brief visit of a GSW yesterday, it, too was a male. The birds don't change their plumage that much, the females are obviously more shy! ;)
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

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    1. Thank you John. I've only seen juveniles and males so far.

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  6. An enjoyable video John. The GSW was having a good go at those peanuts which reminds me I need to top my peanut feeder up. All the food is going quickly at the moment.

    I've been on a wild goose chase or to be more accurate a wild Waxwing chase today. I heard there were some just up the road yesterday but no sign today and a good line of Rowan trees which are the most likely place haven't got a berry on them :-(

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  7. Hello again, John. I’m playing serious catch on comments with you today. Quite a few of your posts have been catching my eye on my phone but I don’t tend to leave comments from it.

    Delighted to see you have captured video of your female GSW. I have to say, ours is still visiting but is very shy indeed. She hasn’t shown much interest in my peanut butter feeder but keeps coming back to the fat cake hanging in a roofed cage feeder. She loves that.

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    1. Hello Shirl. Only ever seen one, a juvenile, once in the past. Now they are becoming regulars.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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