{"id":115627,"date":"2023-09-05T02:29:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T08:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=115627"},"modified":"2023-09-05T05:30:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T11:30:01","slug":"thoughts-of-my-mom-and-a-downy-woodpecker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/05\/thoughts-of-my-mom-and-a-downy-woodpecker\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts Of My Mom and A Downy Woodpecker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, my window was open. It was a rainy, dreary day, and I found myself inexplicably feeling down. I heard the distinctive calls<\/span><\/a> of a Downy Woodpecker. It occurred to me that it was the first day in I don’t know how long that I had chosen to wear socks and hiking boots, opting for them over my usual hiking sandals. My feet were chilly without them.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Downy Woodpecker male in Arkansas \u2013 Canon R7, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 1600, Canon RF 100-500mm at 428mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Another season is about to begin. I really don’t know where this year went. I spent quite a bit of time back East with my mom before she passed away and I also spent time recovering in Texas, and in Arkansas.<\/p>\n

Things just haven’t seemed “normal” for me since early spring. It is already September and snow flew in the high country yesterday. Termination dust<\/span><\/a> on the 4th of September.<\/p>\n

While I was in Arkansas, whenever I called my mom, I sat outside on the deck of my dear friend, Steve Creek<\/span><\/a>, so that my mother could hear the birds in his yard from her hospice bed. Mom recognized the calls of the jays, cardinals, and this Downy Woodpecker.<\/p>\n

Yesterday marked exactly two months since my mom left us. I didn’t realize it until around 1 p.m. and that was probably why I had been feeling down. Hearing the Downy Woodpecker’s call until almost dusk helped me get through the day. I miss her dearly, but she is with me in the calls of the birds, the whispers of the wind, and the embrace of nature.<\/p>\n

I’m missing my mom’s hugs. It’s hard. Thankfully, I have the help of loving friends and family to help me navigate through this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Downy Woodpecker photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,27,2142,13951],"tags":[6660,193,1996,2143,13981,4067,4062,12883,4104,5164,2315,14310,8018,4777,2146,13966,4193],"class_list":["post-115627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-downy-woodpeckers","category-sebastian-county","tag-day","tag-downy-woodpecker","tag-driftwood","tag-dryobates-pubescens","tag-feeder","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-mom","tag-perched","tag-rainy","tag-summer-3","tag-thoughts","tag-urban","tag-woodpecker","tag-woodpeckers","tag-yard","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/downy-woodpecker-male-immature-mia-mcpherson-6145.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-u4X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113998,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/26\/downy-woodpecker-photos-from-arkansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":115627,"position":0},"title":"Downy Woodpecker Photos From Arkansas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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. 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You fly to a suet feeder to get food to eat and suddenly get hit by another woodpecker.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Downy Woodpecker in defensive pose, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0239.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0239.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0239.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0239.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":149363,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/26\/immature-male-downy-woodpecker\/","url_meta":{"origin":115627,"position":4},"title":"Immature Male Downy Woodpecker","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It was one year ago today that I photographed this immature male Downy Woodpecker. 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I'm glad he did.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wet and scruffy male Downy Woodpecker, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/downy-woodpecker-spring-mia-mcpherson-7139.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/downy-woodpecker-spring-mia-mcpherson-7139.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/downy-woodpecker-spring-mia-mcpherson-7139.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/downy-woodpecker-spring-mia-mcpherson-7139.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}