Steve Price
Draper, Utah USA
02/06/2023
04:10 pm

Equipment Details:

Canon T7 with 70-200 zoom lens @ 200mm, handheld.

Post-processing Details:

Cropped, sharpened, composited.

Image Details:

Perhaps a mated pair of Downy Woodpeckers...and perhaps a potentially mated pair. The female on the left has no red crest feathers as the male on the right sports.
The female has been visiting a few times to the feeders however her behavior was similar to the male's except with a double espresso latte fueling her engine. Very busy most of the time while I watched and waited for a still moment. She is enjoying a peanut butter snack in the image and this was it.

The male was perched on the trunk of the almond tree about ten feet on the right from the honey locust where the feeders are. I spread peanut butter on the tree limbs in the fall winter and early spring and the birds go wild for it. After a few days there's no sign it was ever there. The fat and protein is beneficial for their diets when insects are scarce during the winter dormancy. The Chickadees and Ruby Crowned Kinglet are big fans after the Downy Woodpeckers. Starlings love it, too but haven't been around much.

I'm not sure the woodpeckers will stay around past spring, but my suspicion is that they'll head off to a mountain forest for the summer.

Posted 
January 20, 2019
 in 

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