Monday, June 22, 2009

Juvenile Downy Woodpecker and the suet cage

Right now across much of North America many can probably hear the sound of nestlings and juvenile birds begging for food from their parents. I love watching the parents feed their babies, especially once the little ones start coming to the feeders with mom and dad. But it's also rewarding to watch them start to "spread their wings" so to speak, and to start getting food for themselves. The woodpeckers have been keeping our suet feeders very busy this spring, and now the little ones are finally latching on to the little metal cages and feeding themselves.










Isn't that the sweetest little face? Looks like he needs a napkin, though.


Ghost bird, I


Ghost bird, II



PHOEBE NEST UPDATE: The second brood of Eastern Phoebes fledged Saturday morning. We didn't catch it on film this time, unfortunately, but I hope they all made it out safe and sound.

11 comments:

NW Nature Nut said...

Love the giant pics! They are so big they don't fit on my laptop screen!

James said...

Lovely pictures.

We've got young grackles, jays and mockingbirds coming around our feeders pretty regularly right now. I'll have to try to get pictures.

Shelley said...

These are outstanding!!!

P.S. I'll email you back shortly - still trying to figure out the hubby's schedule! :-)

Heather said...

Michele - Uh-oh, didn't mean for the pictures to be that big! I scaled them back.

James - Thank you! I would love to see some photos of young jays and mockers!

Shelley - Why thank you! That's a high honor from the queen of backyard feeder bird photography!

NW Nature Nut said...

Heather: I had to come back and see the new look after you mentioned on my blog that you made more changes. I really like this color. It is bright and cheery...sky like. I realized I use the Lefty Minima Stretch for my blog. I like the stretch format the best for photo presentation. Have you ever played with Picnik photo editing? I have been using that site for collages and I'm considering paying the $24.95 and getting the "premium" editing options. It's a fun site. I have been using it to make my blog headers too. Blogging is like one giant art project, huh? Have fun!

Creative Cards said...

Nice series of shots Heather I really liked them!! The wing shots are great.

Crista

Kelly said...

...sweet, sweet little baby Downy! I love his little red patch. Great photos!! That ghost bird is pretty cool too! :-)

Heather said...

Kelly - I love that little red patch on top of their heads, too! I wish all the juvenile birds were so easy to tell apart from the adults. Titmice, nuthatches, chickadees - I'd never know they were young birds if I didn't see them screaming to be fed!

Heather said...

Crista - When I examined some of those wing shots on the computer screen I was amazed to see how prominently their little bones show up!

RuthieJ said...

Oh Heather, that little Downy is so cute. It's sure fun to watch them work on their flying and perching skills, isn't it?

Heather said...

Ruthie - Yes, it is fun to watch them learning all of their life skills. I'd love to watch some baby flycatchers learning how to catch bugs on the wing, but I haven't been fortunate enough to observe that yet.