I had only ever heard a woodpecker down in the conservation area until earlier this year when Skippy spotted one on our street.
I was not lucky enough to see it until a couple of weeks later on a chimney a few doors up. Two days ago we spotted it again briefly on a telegraph post but it disappeared before we could get the camera.
Tonight, low & behold Skippy is having a wobbly because there it is on our feeding station. I just cannot believe it. We just managed a brief snap of it, so sorry about the quality of the picture but we were so excited.

We know very little about woodpeckers, has anyone any more knowledge on them? Is this a Great or a Lesser spotted woodpecker?

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This post was last modified: 23-06-2007 07:47 PM by tibbar.

Your visitor is a female Great Spotted Woodpecker. Females have red on their crowns, and the red belly distinguishes them from the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

I love woodpeckers! Congratulations on getting one at your feeder .

Kingfisher

Someone told me that only one drills into a tree trunk & only at a certain time of year. Is that right? Why do they do it ? Is it to build a nest site?

This post was last modified: 24-06-2007 09:24 AM by tibbar.

Kingfisher is quiet correct, it is a great spotted woodpecker, but it is the juvenile that has the red crown, not the female, so yours is a young one. The male has a red patch on the nape, while the female has no black on its head.

Lesser spotted woodpeckers are much smaller - about the size of a sparrow.

Woodpeckers "drum" rather than sing, although they have several different calls. Both male and females drum, but mostly the male to advertise for a mate and to declare territory.

They excavate nest holes in trees and I've even seen one in a telegraph pole. Judging from my experiences of watching them locally, they seem to be very choosy on the type of tree. Here they choose dead trees but only those which are very dry, so that the wood looks white. I go round my patch in the late spring examining all the likely trees to find their nest hole. Unfortunately this year I was unable to photograph them, the nest hole was such that the only good view I could get with the camera was too close and I did not want to disturb the birds. I did get some nice views through the branches from a more distant point of the youngster being fed

This post was last modified: 24-06-2007 09:36 AM by wild canon.

I've added some pics from last years nest, they're not the best quality as I didn'y have the long lens that I have now. As I've just learned how to add them to the post, here they are:


Here's the male about to take food to the youngster in the nest hole


Juvenile


Juvenile

This post was last modified: 24-06-2007 11:50 AM by wild canon.

Congratulations tibbar! We haven't had a woodpecker, greater or lesser spotted, in our garden before.

Those are great pictures wild canon. I love the ones of the juvenile having a look around to see what is going on. I had always assumed that woodpeckers drummed to build a nest, not to attract a mate and declare territory.

You will also hear them "knocking" at any time of the year as they feed. I think they listen for the hollow sound that will indicate there is a wood boring insect under the surface. They also chip off pieces of bark to get at insects underneath. Another bird that you can hear banging on a tree is the nuthatch. They will wedge a nut into a crevice and break the shell to get at the kernel inside, making quite a noise in the process.

Now that the leaves are on the trees, I tend to use my ears more than anything else to pick up signs of wildlife. Been hearing quite a few tawny owl chicks lately, calling for food. I can spot them in the dark with the IR light on the image intensifier because their eyes shine brightly, but it's difficult to see them properly as I don't want to get too close and disturb them. Had an adult fly into a tree above my head the other night, keeping an eye on me to make sure I didn't threaten the chick which was close enough to the path for me to see.

I was going to see the eagle owls today up in Bowland, but the weather forecast was so bad, I decided to stay at home. Hopefully, next Sunday will be better. From what friends tell me, they are awesome. I'd love to get some good pics of them.

I am ashamed of myself for not catching that error. Thank you for pointing out the correct male/female/juvenile status.

Next time I shall not answer so quickly. I'm blaming my lack of attention to the joy of seeing a woodpecker here .

Kingfisher

Don't worry, we all have "senior moments" that catch us out, look at my misspelling of quiet instead of quite!

I love the photo's wild canon. I am so excited as we have just had a nuthatch visit our garden. I noticed it at first as it was going head first down the tree. It has great eye markings like a line of makeup. I quickly looked it up in my bird book and there are 22/23 diferent varieties of them, incredible. It has been years since I last saw one. Do they nest like woodpeckers in the bow of a tree?

The nuthatch nests in a ready-made hole - whether a disused woodpecker's or a natural one. They plaster up the entrance with mud until it is just the right size. Last year I found a nest hole in a large tree above where a branch joined the trunk and formed a deep crease. The nuthatches had plastered quite a large area and I watched them going in with food - obviously feeding young inside