A week ago Amanda and I were getting ready to go out (I helped Amanda haul a computer monitor back to campus and pick up a different one) when she suddenly started excitedly shouting at me from the upstairs bathroom that she thought she'd seen a woodpecker out the window. I thought maybe she was pulling my leg. It's a small window. There is a tree there, but you can't see a whole lot of it looking up from the toilet. When I wandered in and looked out the window I couldn't see anything in the tree or any of the others nearby.
A few minutes later, however, we were out in the yard getting our bikes ready and I did, in fact, spot a Downy Woodpecker - at least two of them! At first I thought it was two females, but as I moved around they yard, following them this way and that, trying to get a better view, there was definitely one with a red cap (male). I wasn't sure if this was a THIRD in our yard that day, or if I just hadn't seen it from the right angle to notice it before!
Regardless, pretty exciting to spot two, right in out yard, at the end of January!?
The excitement didn't end there, though... but I'll save that for the next post!
Downy Woodpecker in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook
Downy Woodpecker - 20cmx20xm (8'x8"), Ink on Watercolour Paper.
Here are a few of the pics I got of the Downys in our yard.
Can you see it way up in the tree?
Here it is!
Over at a tree in our front yard.
Closer up.
More Closer up.
Looks similar but this was back in a tree in the back yard.
Next: MORE birbs I saw
A lovely looking bird and a new one to me . I too enjoy unexpected visitors to the garden.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alan!
DeleteThe Downy is a North American species that fairly common across the US and Canada.
Nice birb.
ReplyDeleteI occasionally get flickers around my house (pounding at metallic bits to make a lot of noise to attract mates or chase off rivals or something, I suppose - like the heavy metal rockers of the bird world).