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Project Noah Nature School
Melanerpes carolinus
Series: Another friendly little Sunflower Seed Beggar - a Red-bellied Woodpecker. This guy wasn't just taking the sunflower seeds for himself, but he was also bringing some to what looked to be a juvenile that stayed grasping to the side of a tree (last photo).
Wooded Trail
Spotted on Jun 16, 2016
Submitted on Jul 2, 2016
8 Comments
Lucky indeed! And although the birds are wild, they are a little more tame or "people trusting" due to other people frequently feeding them there. It was actually seeing someone feeding a Chickadee that got me to try.
How lucky you are to be able to hand feed these birds! I have several, but they stay at least 10-feet away. I envy you! Nice photos, too.
For a wild bird to come to you so confidently (sunflower seeds notwithstanding)...you are truly lucky!
They like the good stuff!
I mix a little wild bird food with mine, but it's always my sunflower seeds they take. And I always buy the "jumbo" roasted seeds, so I don't even know how the little Chickadee was even able to grab them with such a small beak.... but he did. I'm sure they probably shouldn't be eating my roasted and salty seeds, but they sure like them more than those little oiled ones in the bird mix.
So cool. I had a red-bellied woodpecker spotting (mother and juvenile) recently, but the closest I could get to them was at least 30 feet...Next time, I'll have to bring sunflower seeds ;)
I've only been able to hand-feed this guy and a little Black-capped Chickadee so far. I've had a Blue Jay and Cardinal show up, but they always keep their distance and watch. The only way I can get even semi-close to them is by throwing a hand-full of seeds on the ground and then taking a step or two back. I had to use my cell phone camera to take these photos for the obvious reasons. :)
That's amazing that they come to you like that!