Downy Woodpecker

       Leaning back to admire her work a Downy Woodpecker is making a home for herself.

I found her chiseling on a decayed limb of an otherwise healthy box elder tree.  Quite intent, with single-minded determination, she paid close attention to her work, while ignoring me standing below.  She hammered hard and fast, only stopping for the necessary safety checks of her surroundings. 

Dead and dying trees are essential to Downy Woodpeckers in two very important ways…food and shelter.

A male Downy Woodpecker was hanging around outside, too.  I mean that literally, hanging upside down from a branch…downies like to do that. He wasn’t helping her presently, but it is known that both sexes share in the nest building task.

The soft and spongy wood of dying trees make it possible for the Downy Woodpecker to accomplish this head-banging work. It was late August, too late for nesting, so this could be a shelter for winter or a place to raise next year's brood. It was still quite cramped, so it took some effort on her part to chisel overhead.

She hammered away and the chips flew.  She'd deal with the pile of accumulating debris, too.  One beak full of chips at a time was discarded overboard. 
When completed, the cavity will be   6-12 inches deep and enlarged at the bottom for incubating the eggs. Excavation should take 
7-21 days. A few wood chips will remain to serve as a nest lining where 3-8 plain white eggs will lie.

Downies are common, widespread and year-round residents here in Wisconsin.  Downies feed on the insects that hide in tree bark along with berries and seeds, but they are also quick to take advantage of whatever you set out for them. 
A nut something suet blend is a preferred choice.

You’ll find Downy Woodpeckers foraging in the trees throughout the winter.  Hammering and prying bark loose, upside down or sideways, they balance themselves on stiff tail feathers propped against the tree.

The sexes look alike in black and white and spots and stripes, but the male displays a red patch on the back of his head.

REMINDER:  Click on any picture to enlarge.

Don’t be overly anxious to remove dead limbs from your trees.  Besides providing nest sites, dying trees attracts all sorts of invertebrate and insect life that woodpeckers and other birds need to feed  their young.

It is not by accident that her nest is placed on the downside of a limb either.  Spring rains are less likely to accumulate in this cavity; a squirrel may be less likely to discover it and snakes, too, must be avoided. Nest construction is well underway now and the accommodations look adequate. If this site is preferred next year, I will be happy to report again on the results. 

Allan

Credit: Sibley, Guide to Birds

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Nuthatch

Not all birds fly south in winter.  The hardy birds stick around.  The nuthatch is one such sturdy bird despite a wispy appearance.

While maintaining a pair bond and a home territory the nuthatch is a twelve-month resident of Wisconsin.  This necessitates the pair spending long hours gathering enough food to last throughout the winter.  After the first hard frost all the tasty insects will be gone.   There will be lean pickings for them if their seed stores aren’t adequate until spring.

The nuthatch is not a picky eater.   Under the loose bark of slowly departing trees he’ll find all sorts of creeping, crawling critters including ants, beetle larvae, spiders, caterpillars and millipedes.  After the insect life is frozen out, acorns, berries, corn and the kindness of bird-feeding humans get this Red-breasted Nuthatch through lean times.

Black oil sunflower seeds and peanuts seem to be the hands down favorites for the White-breasted Nuthatch.  I have yet to see one carry away a different seed unless it was wrapped in a suet cake.

With continual forays to the backyard feeders, the White-breasted Nuthatch is always looking out for tomorrow.  There is no way a White-breasted Nuthatch can remember the location of the thousands of seeds he’s hidden during the summer, so an abundance is crucial.

  

The seed snatching and storing goes on all day, everyday, with the goal of always having plenty.

Given the possibility many of his seeds are plundered by passing squirrels, good hiding spots are important.

The southbound migration through Wisconsin has started for many bird species already.  Soon only the winter residents will remain.  Make the effort now to supply seeds to the nuthatches…small investment.  They may fill your trees with seeds, too, and provide you with a little kitchen-window entertainment for the winter. 

Allan

White-breasted Nuthatch

If you feed the birds, you know the nuthatch.  They are widespread and common and come in at least three varieties. If you don’t know them by name, you’ll know them by sight.  They are the birds that hop, headfirst, down the tree.

The three White-breasted Nuthatches, Eastern, Pacific and Interior West, all variations of the same bird, cover the continent.

He is energetic and entertaining.  Making numerous trips to the bird feeder, snatching one sunflower seed at a time, he flies off to hide his prize in nearby trees. The foraging goes on all day long. He  tirelessly chisels and wedges seeds into bark crevices. When he’s not at our feeder, I’m sure he’s at the neighbor’s feeder doing the same thing.  White-breasted nuthatches are year-around Wisconsin residents; storing winter food is necessary for survival. 

He can’t possibly keep track of the thousands of seeds he’s hiding, so why does he hide so many? Why is he working so hard?

I’m sure he’s feeding the squirrels too, but not intentionally.  I’ve never witnessed a squirrel plundering his stores, but I can’t imagine a squirrel passing up a found sunflower seed.  The squirrels are way too smart to pass up free food!  Squirrels even consider my bird feeder defenses as silly. They don’t even bother trying to get to the seeds inside.  Why should they?  They get their meals delivered!

Traveling headfirst down a tree, the nuthatch only appears to be hopping. He’s actually walking, very quickly, one foot at a time. That’s what I mean by entertaining.  He’s a fun bird to watch. If you don’t recognize this bird by this trait alone, maybe you don’t have White-breasted Nuthatches in your neighborhood. 

For entertainment, he’s a star!   Songbirds are seasonal and raptors are rare, but the White-breasted Nuthatch puts on a show every day.

Allan

This is likely a Pacific or Interior West, White-breasted Nuthatch.  I can’t tell them apart.  I only got one picture before he flew away.   I found him in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona, so chances are he’s an Interior West.