I thought I would share a story about a pair of downy woodpeckers from Lynn Sciumbato, a wildlife rehabilitor/ecology teacher I work with in Rogers. Seems she had a pair nesting close to her home in the recent past, and often watched them as they nested and raised their young. As the adults hunted for food for the young birds, the female would always leave the tree first, followed by the male. The female would fly a great distance across the pasture down to the creek to catch bugs, then dash back to the nest. The male had another plan. Right after the female would take off, the male would fly a short distance to Lynn's porch rail, crack open a sunflower seed or two (or three or four) for himself, all the time watching out the corner of his eye for the female to return. As soon as she came back, the male would fly back to the nest, feed the little ones a seed or two, then repeat the routine over and over. I wonder if they're still nesting together...
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3 repliesI thought I would share a story about a pair of downy woodpeckers from Lynn Sciumbato, a wildlife rehabilitor/ecology teacher I work with in Rogers. Seems she had a pair nesting close to her home in the recent past, and often watched them as they nested and raised their young. As the adults hunted for food for the young birds, the female would always leave the tree first, followed by the male. The female would fly a great distance across the pasture down to the creek to catch bugs, then dash back to the nest. The male had another plan. Right after the female would take off, the male would fly a short distance to Lynn's porch rail, crack open a sunflower seed or two (or three or four) for himself, all the time watching out the corner of his eye for the female to return. As soon as she came back, the male would fly back to the nest, feed the little ones a seed or two, then repeat the routine over and over. I wonder if they're still nesting together...