{"id":143002,"date":"2025-04-20T02:41:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T07:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=143002"},"modified":"2025-04-19T17:35:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T22:35:55","slug":"scruffy-male-downy-woodpecker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/20\/scruffy-male-downy-woodpecker\/","title":{"rendered":"Scruffy Male Downy Woodpecker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not long after a downpour of rain yesterday, this wet and scruffy male Downy Woodpecker flew in and landed on a vine near the suet feeder. I’m glad he did.<\/p>\n

\"WetWet and scruffy male Downy Woodpecker \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/640, ISO 800, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while since I shared a Downy Woodpecker, and he just seems perfect for the wet, rainy, somewhat windy spring weather we\u2019ve been having here.<\/p>\n

He does look a bit soggy, frazzled, and scruffy! But it\u2019s nesting time, and some of his feathers may be scruffy from excavating a nesting cavity nearby.<\/p>\n

I photographed him after he made me laugh yesterday morning.<\/p>\n

The Common Grackles in the neighborhood have been making pigs of themselves at the suet feeder lately. They\u2019ve been going through as much as a cake of suet per day.<\/p>\n

To keep them from eating it all, we\u2019ve been taking the suet feeder down when we\u2019re not outside. But that also means the other birds that enjoy the suet have to wait for it to be hung up again before they can eat.<\/p>\n

Well, I was outside for a moment when I saw the male Downy Woodpecker perched on the vine, looking for the suet feeder. On a whim, I picked it up and held it in the air from the deck.<\/p>\n

It took less than a second for the Downy Woodpecker to make a beeline or maybe a bird line to the suet feeder. He landed on it briefly, then paused when he realized I was the one holding it up.<\/p>\n

That made me laugh.<\/p>\n

He flew off in a hurry, but I could tell he really, really wanted some suet. Badly!<\/p>\n

The suet feeder got hung up, the scruffy little Downy Woodpecker<\/span><\/a> got his breakfast, I had a lovely laugh, and then I grabbed my gear to photograph him.<\/p>\n

And life is<\/em> good. Happy Easter everyone.<\/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":"

Not long after a downpour of rain yesterday, this wet and scruffy male Downy Woodpecker flew in and landed on a vine near the suet feeder. I’m glad he did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142998,"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":[4004,193,2143,13981,13931,4062,4104,4362,165,15824,11722,1824,4777,2146,13966],"class_list":["post-143002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-downy-woodpeckers","category-sebastian-county","tag-adult","tag-downy-woodpecker","tag-dryobates-pubescens","tag-feeder","tag-garden","tag-male","tag-perched","tag-scruffy","tag-spring","tag-suburban","tag-vine","tag-wet","tag-woodpecker","tag-woodpeckers","tag-yard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/downy-woodpecker-spring-mia-mcpherson-7139.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Bcu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132335,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/13\/young-downy-woodpecker-defensive-behavior\/","url_meta":{"origin":143002,"position":0},"title":"Young Downy Woodpecker Defensive Behavior","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine you are a young Downy Woodpecker, just a couple of months old. 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":143002,"position":1},"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. So far this year, I haven't seen any young Downy Woodpeckers.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature male Downy Woodpecker in summer, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/downy-woodpecker-immature-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/downy-woodpecker-immature-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/downy-woodpecker-immature-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/downy-woodpecker-immature-male-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133395,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/30\/adult-female-downy-woodpecker\/","url_meta":{"origin":143002,"position":2},"title":"Adult Female Downy Woodpecker","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sharing a simple photo of a female Downy Woodpecker this morning that I took yesterday. But is the image all that simple for me? It isn't, not really.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult female Downy Woodpecker with a suet covered bill, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-adult-female-suet-mia-mcpherson-5761.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-adult-female-suet-mia-mcpherson-5761.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-adult-female-suet-mia-mcpherson-5761.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/downy-woodpecker-adult-female-suet-mia-mcpherson-5761.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":127936,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/26\/spring-female-and-male-downy-woodpecker-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":143002,"position":3},"title":"Spring Female and Male Downy Woodpecker Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It started off rainy yesterday morning, but later on, I was delighted to take images of female and male Downy Woodpeckers from the comfort of Steve's deck.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring male Downy Woodpecker, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/downy-woodpecker-adult-spring-male-mia-mcpherson-1128.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/downy-woodpecker-adult-spring-male-mia-mcpherson-1128.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/downy-woodpecker-adult-spring-male-mia-mcpherson-1128.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/downy-woodpecker-adult-spring-male-mia-mcpherson-1128.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138516,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/05\/downy-woodpecker-at-joseph-h-williams-tallgrass-prairie-preserve\/","url_meta":{"origin":143002,"position":4},"title":"Downy Woodpecker At Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing photos of an adult male Downy Woodpecker on a gravel road at Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Osage County, Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Downy Woodpeckers"","block_context":{"text":"Downy Woodpeckers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/woodpeckers\/downy-woodpeckers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Downy Woodpecker on a gravel road at Joseph H. 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