Weird Woodpecker behavior

A red bellied woodpecker is a frequent visitor at the feeder. When he comes, he will throw out seed after seed until he gets the morsel he wants. He will take it over to my perch and mash it on the wood. I have seen him do this several times. Recently, he did the same, which I photographed continuously. Looking over the images on my computer, one stood out. The woodpecker was turned toward me, his eyes almost closed, and he had his mouth completely opened. As far as I know, he never disgorged anything. Can anyone tell me what this is all about?

I've seen Downy woodpeckers select specific seeds from suet but I think you may have just caught something weird here.

He's lookin' right at you, Phil. Maybe he's just sayin' : "somehow, Phil, you just tick me off!"

Dave Graham

It could be the equivalent of a woodpecker raspberry, ya think?

I think you got it, Cindy. I just never have looked down the gullet of a yawning woodpecker! Anyway, mystery solved. Thanks!

Phil,
OK. Sorry for the quick wise-a__ comment. I looked closer and the plot thickens.
There is a smooth-surfaced, reddish-purple swelling just inside the right commissure of the beak. The mouth is open and the tongue is elevated from its normal place of repose in the midline recess of the lower bill. Do you have any other shots in which the mouth is also open and the tongue elevated? I'm wondering if the behavior is related to a the presence of a space-occupying lesion in the oral mucosa just inside the beak commissure. Possibilities could include a neoplasm,a foreign body granuloma or abscess, or a squamous epithlial cyst of the infraorbital sinus extending anteriorly to prolapse with herniation into the commissural oral submucosa. Such a lesion is typical of that caused by vitamin-A deficiency Having diagnosed several cases of fatal hypovitaminosis-A in hairy and downy woodpeckers in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, I am personally familiar with is effects. The affected birds were feeding exclusively on suet unsupplemented with fat-soluble vitamins. Unsupplemented high-fat diets in birds can result in deficiencies of one or more of the fat-soluble vitamins especially vitamins A and E, simply by dilution of otherwise normal intake of the vitamins in lipids that are unabsorbed and passed in the droppings...a dilution effect. Woodpeckers so affected had, variously, keratin cysts in the oral mucosa, suborbital sinuses, and in the sublingual mucosa causing displacement and elevation of the of the tongue. Hypovitaminosis-A sounds like a good possibility, but certainly no definitive diagnosis is possible without thorough examination of and specimen collection from affected birds.

Such affected bird are usually not solitary cases; it would not be unusual to find several affected suet-consuming birds in the immediate vicinity of the feeder.

And incidentally, I've worked with wild and captive birds in states of health and disease in the field and laboratory for over thirty years and have never observed a bird to simply "yawn".

Dave Graham, Estelline, SD (ret vet. pathologist and wildlife disease researcher and diagnostician).

P.S. The superior eyelids do appear somewhat thickened. This can be the result of conjunctival squamous metaplasia and associaste conjunctivitis..which can also occur in cases of hypovitaminosis-A.
Dave Graham, Estelline, SD

David, thanks for the details. I don't know what else the woodpecker has eaten, but there is no suet in the mixed seed in my feeder. Personally, I think a diagnosis of hypovitaminosis-A at this scale, as dark as the mouth area is, is a tough call. Here is the area from the original RAW file, with the mouth area lightened. I would appreciate another look and confirmation of your first diagnosis. I am, of course, concerned about what is in the feeder, suet or no suet. If I thought I was doing harm by feeding the birds, I would stop in an instant. Considering that woodpeckers probably prefer a nice bark or wood grub/insect, it does concern me.

The bird seed came in bulk from Sam's Club, advertised as "wild bird seed".

Maybe it's from an injury. Look at the right eye....half closed and "scabbed" over. Left eye is nice and open.

Looks like something tore his mouth and tear extended into his eye......maybe....