Cake Pecker!

[rain_gryphon]

From earlier today.



A male Red Bellied Woodpecker eats at my cake feeder, just outside the kitchen window (I was making dinner when he showed up). If you look closely, you can see his tiny needle-like tongue poking out as he cleans little bits of beef suet off the end of his beak. This is how he'd do with the tiny bits of smashed insect that would be on his beak tip after he'd drilled them out from the bark of a tree.

The cock stops by to eat every so often, but I have yet to see a hen.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Ooh, neat! I have not seen nor heard a woodpecker around here. We do have some older trees but not near our buildings.

[rain_gryphon]

Oh, yeah. Woodpeckers are all about old trees with thick, gnarly bark. We have two very old ones right near the house, and while some Downy Woodpeckers nest in one, I think this guy lives farther away, perhaps in the small woods across the cornfield. He always arrives from, and departs toward, the north.

[chestnut_pod]

Wow! How cool to see that little tongue. I never would have guessed that's what it looked like.

[rain_gryphon]

They use them like anteaters do, pecking a hole in the bark, then poking that tongue around underneath to collect all the bugs. It's really quite long when they stick it all the way out.

[chestnut_pod]

So cool!

[minoanmiss]

This is really neat and educational! Thank you!

[rain_gryphon]

You're welcome!

[shirebound]

What a stunning red! I love your pics.

[rain_gryphon]

Thanks! The crest is almost a fluorescent scarlet RL. The photo doesn't really do it justice.

[turlough]

What a beautiful photo!

[rain_gryphon]

Thanks!

[alatefeline]

What a great bird picture!

[rain_gryphon]

Thanks!

[cesy]

Cool!

[rain_gryphon]

Thanks!

[ec_ho]

Aww! How adorable. The colours on that woodpecker are beautiful.

[rain_gryphon]

And they are *so* much brighter RL. That red is almost fluorescent!