GBP Notes 8/15/22 – Feeding Baby

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While looking out back at our bird feeders I noticed an immature Red-bellied Woodpecker perched atop the pole holding a tube feeder with mixed seeds.  As you can see it has very little color, but if you look closer you can see a hint of red on its belly.  It was vocalizing softly.

It turned its head away from me so you can see some of the red on the nape of its neck.  It wasn’t enough to determine if this was a male or female.

Next thing I knew, an adult male (male because the red extended all the way from the nape to the beak – females only have red on the nape) Red-bellied Woodpecker flew into the seed feeder below and filled up, then hopped up onto the feeder stand next to junior.

Dad began feeding by inserting a peanut into junior’s mouth.

Then the feeding began in earnest – junior opened wide and dad inserted his beak far into its mouth and expelled more food.

Dad flew down and consumed more seed and hopped back up and repeated the process.

It was great to have front-row seats for feeding time for baby!

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