Thoughts Of My Mom and A Downy Woodpecker
Yesterday, my window was open. It was a rainy, dreary day, and I found myself inexplicably feeling down. I heard the distinctive calls of a Downy Woodpecker.
Yesterday, my window was open. It was a rainy, dreary day, and I found myself inexplicably feeling down. I heard the distinctive calls of a Downy Woodpecker.
I thought this young male Downy Woodpecker, with bits of suet on his bill, was a striking bird, and that's why I decided to share this photo today.
These Red-headed Woodpecker photos were taken last month at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. I had one great day with this species in two spots on the refuge.
Today is a milestone day for me. I'm celebrating the fact that I have shared 3000 daily posts here at On The Wing Photography in a row.
I photographed this young Red-bellied Woodpecker last month in Arkansas. I was visiting my dear friend and fellow photographer, Steve Creek.
When I photographed this immature Downy Woodpecker yesterday in my friend Steve's yard I didn't think I'd get two photos with its tongue sticking out. But I did!
Today I am sharing a Red-headed Woodpecker with a mayfly in its bill that I took yesterday at Sequoya National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.
Today I'm sharing a close up photo of a young Red-bellied Woodpecker with an adult taken in my good friend Steve Creek's yard at a feeder.
Yesterday the sun was shining and I went for a walk at my local pond. Among the birds that I photographed I enjoyed this pretty female Northern Flicker.
This morning I am sharing a few male Northern Flicker images that I took seven years ago at the edge of a mountain forest in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
I like having my windows open so I can hear the sounds of birds when I can't be in the field. It helps me to hear them especially when the world is so crazy.
This morning I wanted to share a few Red-naped Sapsucker photos I have taken while in gorgeous alpine forests of Idaho and Utah.
The American Birding Association has selected the Pileated Woodpecker as their Bird of the Year for 2021 and I think it is an excellent choice.
This adult female Northern Flicker and a male were both foraging for hawthorn berries when I spotted them from across a creek high in the Wasatch Mountains.
A few weeks ago while up in the Wasatch Mountains I was able to see and photograph an immature male Downy Woodpecker as it foraged for food in willows and while clinging to a Common Mullein.
By excavating their own nests Northern Flickers provide nests for other woodland birds that can't excavate nesting cavities on their own and those nests can be used over and over again. Nature is brilliant.
The adult Red-naped Sapsuckers often clung to the entrance to the nesting cavity for a few seconds before they went inside with the food they had gathered to give to their chicks.
For one and a half wonderful nesting seasons I was thrilled to photograph a pair of mated Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nest and tending to their young.
When I noticed the Downy Woodpecker moving towards the front part of the tree I changed my focus to it and waited to see if he would come out into the open and when it did I was ready to takes images of him.
This immature Northern Flicker was one of the last birds I spotted and photographed three days ago while up in the Wasatch Mountains and I was happy that she stayed long enough for me to take a nice series of images of her.
Who knew that Downy Woodpeckers have eyes the color of a fine Cognac? I didn't until I took this Downy Woodpecker close up in the Wasatch Mountains one month ago.
One year ago today I experienced one of the two most frustrating days in my entire time of being a bird photographer while photographing Red-naped Sapsuckers in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho.
I spotted a flash of black, white and red as a bird landed in the aspen tree that was closest to me above where the wrens and swallows are nesting and realized that a male Red-naped Sapsucker had flown in and was foraging for food in the buds of the aspen.
I dug into my archives and picked these Northern Flicker photos from May of 2015 to share today because I saw a Northern Flicker yesterday and thought of how they will soon start excavating their nesting cavities to rear their young in.
This Red-naped Sapsucker was perched on a dead aspen branch near the nesting cavity where I photographed a chick being fed by the adults in mid July.
I did find one jewel in the images, a photo of one of the adult Red-naped Sapsuckers flying away from the nesting cavity looking like a bullet.
I do not believe that this bird was one of the pair of adult Red-naped Sapsuckers I photographed feeding the chick in the nesting cavity, his bib and breast markings were different from the other adult birds.
Although photographing the Red-naped Sapsuckers at the nesting cavity has been frustrating at times it has also been very rewarding to observe all the action of the sapsucker family.
Jackpot and frustrations... I'll explain the jackpot first and get to the frustrations later about the Targhee National Forest Red-naped Sapsucker feeding its young.
This male Red-naped Sapsucker was photographed last year in the high Uintas, a mountain range that is east of Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Mountains I can see from where I live.