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Woodpeckers..............


Calamity Kris

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Gotta love their tenacity.  I was sound asleep this morning when one began to drill on the rain gutter downspout outside the bedroom window.  I waited a little while thinking it would get tired of it's fruitless attempts and move on.  No.  It continued to drill for quite a while.  I finally gave up on getting any more sleep and got out of bed. 

 

287372685_ScreenShot2020-02-01at9_29_39AM.png.fb92eb16d23848b1413272ed8b038d2d.png

 

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It is fun watching their territorial disputes, both among other species of woodpeckers and other species of birds.  From what little I have observed the Downy Woodpecker seems to get along well with finches, sapsuckers, Junkos, doves, wrens, and sparrows.  Acorn Woodpeckers tend to try to drive off everything else.  I've seen Scrub Jays and Acorn Woodpeckers going at it beak and talon over feeding rights at our feeders.

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We have lots of Scrub Jays in the undeveloped lots around us.  I hear them squawking in the morning when I leave for work.  We also have a Kestrel nesting atop the Australian pine outside the bedroom window.  He is very territorial.  Aside from the local deer, nothing is allowed on that side of the house.  He chases all the smaller animals off, or eats them.

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Every time I go outside a Pileated will fly by and give the Woody Woodpecker laugh at me. :lol:

 

Pileated.jpg

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10 minutes ago, Calamity Kris said:

We have lots of Scrub Jays in the undeveloped lots around us.  I hear them squawking in the morning when I leave for work.  We also have a Kestrel nesting atop the Australian pine outside the bedroom window.  He is very territorial.  Aside from the local deer, nothing is allowed on that side of the house.  He chases all the smaller animals off, or eats them.

Kestrals are beautiful birds. I used to see them all the time when fishing in North Carolina.
 

When I was in Oregon I spent more time while fishing watching the Ospreys and Bald Eagles than I did fishing sometimes. 

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The woodpeckers (lots of Pileated around here) don't bother me, but the &^%$*  (^^%$#^& crow that used to sit on a hydro pole right outside the cottage, in summer, and announce that the sun was coming up around 4:30 earned a .22 through his noggin after a few days of his racket, to the cheers I heard coming from inside other cottages around us.

The rest of the murder seem to have got the message.

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Last week, we got a power pole replaced due to Woodpecker damage.

 

While walking my dog, I found a perfectly round ~4" diameter hole in a tree that I thought might have been made by one. They are always trying to drill holes in the garage under the eaves.

 

They are black and white with a red head.

 

IIRC this is what they look like and the size of the hole. This was taken in Calaveras county, which is the county south of us.

 

Image result for california native woodpeckers

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20 minutes ago, Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 said:

Last week, we got a power pole replaced due to Woodpecker damage.

 

While walking my dog, I found a perfectly round ~4" diameter hole in a tree that I thought might have been made by one. They are always trying to drill holes in the garage under the eaves.

 

They are black and white with a red head.

 

IIRC this is what they look like and the size of the hole. This was taken in Calaveras county, which is the county south of us.

 

Image result for california native woodpeckers

 

 

Looks to be a White-headed Woodpecker.  
 

BASIC DESCRIPTION

 

The White-headed Woodpecker is an unusual woodpecker restricted to mountainous pine forests of the western states and British Columbia. It’s a glossy black bird with a gleaming white head and neck, augmented in males with a red crown patch. White-headed Woodpeckers feed heavily on large pine seeds, and are most associated with old-growth ponderosa pine and sugar pine forests. They also often use recently burned areas. They tend not to drill into wood to get insects, but rather flake away bark or probe into needle clusters.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-headed_Woodpecker/id

 

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/white-headed-woodpecker

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3 hours ago, Perro Del Diablo said:

So is that when you go back inside and put your pants on?:lol:

 

Your the guy with the giant telescope watching me all the time from across the lake.:P

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My buddy had to resort to a BB gun to stop the damage to his wood siding. The house was built in 1903 and they just decided to start attacking it two years ago.

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We had a pair of them that would perch on the front of my woodshop and RV garage and peck holes. To get rid of them I installed some of the shiny Mylar streamers that they use to keep birds out of the orange, lemon, grapefruit and persimmon groves out at the ranch my wife manages. It works like a champ, they haven’t been back for years.

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I have a Northern Flicker visit occasionally.  He likes to drum on the metal top of the chimney. Inside the house, it sounds like a jack hammer.

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23 hours ago, Michigan Slim said:

My buddy had to resort to a BB gun to stop the damage to his wood siding. The house was built in 1903 and they just decided to start attacking it two years ago.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to post that in a public forum.

 

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On 2/1/2020 at 7:12 AM, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Kestrals are beautiful birds. I used to see them all the time when fishing in North Carolina.
 

When I was in Oregon I spent more time while fishing watching the Ospreys and Bald Eagles than I did fishing sometimes. 

Fishing is like that sometimes, Pat. 

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On 2/1/2020 at 12:47 PM, Subdeacon Joe said:

Just a few feet from our window.  By chance Lisa had music going on her computer and it made for a nice background  Video taken with my cellphone.
 

 

 

I have some video of Downy woodpeckers.  We watched a pair of roosters fighting.  It was funny to watch the puff up and strut like wild tom turkeys. 

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