While I was getting ready to mow the lawn and make a lot of noise, I was distracted by what sounded like bird chicks feeding. I walked closer to the oak trees that border the south side of my house and saw a group of downy woodpeckers. These chicks typically fledge around two weeks but continue to follow their parents, getting lessons on finding food, before becoming independent. There is a rich resource of insects now including the bark beetles that they seem to enjoy gleaning off of the branches with their barbed tongues. After I raced to get my camera I caught a glimpse of one of the male fledglings being fed by the female. These healthy looking young birds seemed to be taking a course on foraging off of small oak branches. There was a period of time when everyone was hanging upside down, a characteristic trait of these birds, some enjoying it more than others. They ventured out onto the smaller branches following their mother prying into bromeliads of all kinds, peeling back the bark, breaking open galls and learning the art of gathering more than one insect at time. I wondered… at what point she will stop feeding them. Some clung to one place while others mimicked their mother’s foraging techniques. It seems she just keeps giving the lessons until they show initiative but makes sure everyone gets fed. There was one that sat still looking terrified as he became comfortable with that part of their tail anatomy that holds them up and his wide feet for hanging on. A sweet chirp alerted his mother and he was fed. Well, I couldn’t postpone mowing much longer, so I decided to tackle the other side of the yard, giving them yet a little more time to listen to what their mother was teaching them.
