Downy Up on the Third Floor

When I found out we’d be moving to the third floor of an apartment building, I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring my bird feeder.  Oh, I like having bird feeders around, but I thought that the bird seed would get all over the neighbors’ decks on the second and first floors.  So I gave my feeder to my sister.  

I wasn’t that sad to see it go, really.  The feeder sometimes went weeks without attracting a single bird and, on the rare occasion I’d see birds fluttering around by it, it turned out to just be a murder of crows (yes, that is what a group of crows is called).  If I couldn’t attract anything more interesting than crows in the small town we lived in, I didn’t think I’d be able to do much better in the city of Mr. Paul.

But last summer, I noticed something.  Well, I noticed lots of things, but the one thing in particular I noticed was that the tenants on the first and second floor both had bird feeders.  “Perfect,” thought I, “If I buy a feeder, not only will my neighbors not mind, bbut I’ll actually be doing them a favor – any food that drops down will increase their ability to attract birds!”

Well, I didn’t get around to buying a feeder until November.  I purchased this nice, homemade wooden number from a craft fair held at my job.  This had numerous advantages: inexpensive, non-plastic, custom-made, and the money went to a good cause (i.e., a co-worker).  I did have to modify it a tad, however, as the sides kept splitting apart from each other, allowing seeds to fall out.  A well-placed screw seems to do the trick.

So, the other day, my wife tells me a woodpecker dined at our feeder.  I had seen this woodpecker once before: last summer he landed on the wooden slats of our deck and began boring his bill into it (bye-bye, damage deposit).  

Today, our friend returned.  The photo shows the brave soul clinging to the feeder as only a woodpecker can do: he is under the impression that he must remain vertical when eating, probably a genetic predisposition born from a long line of tree borers.  

I pulled my trusty Critters of Minnesota off my shelf.  Here’s what I discovered: this is a downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens).  The showy bit of red on the back of the head indicate that this bird is a male.  He likes to live in wooded areas (we live two blocks away from a huge regional preserve), grows from naked, blind hatchling to full-grown in less than a month and helps his lady companion care for the young.  

Oddly, my book claims these birds grow to a maximum of 6 inches, and I estimate this guy to be about 8 inches.  Minnesota is also home to the pileated woodpecker, but those are much bigger and don’t have the black-and-white patterning on the wings.  So, either this is a pileated in disguise or a larger specimen than any the authors of Critters have ever come across.

According to the printing on the bag of bird seed, the sunflower seeds, cracked corn and suet in the mix all help to attract woodpeckers.  I was unaware that this woodpecker had looked at the printing on this bag, but I guess I learn something new every day.

My goal is to get a better photo (when the windows aren’t fogged and frosted from winter) and some video.  Maybe I’ll get a whole robbery of woodpeckers!  I’ll also leave the wood putty nearby in case the managers do a surprise inspection.