The birds that feed from my railing are the only color to contrast against
this bleak, brittle cold day. The 5 inch Black-capped
Chickadees are first, followed by Blue Jays, Cardinals, Finches, Sparrows and
Doves. One of my favorites is the Red-bellied
Woodpecker. It is the female that I most
often spot. Although, only approximately
9 inches in size, she is a stunner to view in her zebra stripped cape that extends
from her neck with a sassy white rump slightly exposed beneath. From beak to the back of his neck, the male is
crowned in scarlet, orange feathers. She,
on the other hand, is distinguished because she has a subtle, gray crown
proceeding the red that covers the nape of her neck. Both have a tan breast with a tinge of red on
the underbelly.
I do not often view the male. Does he say:
“Hey, Susan’s feeding. Fly down there and get me a seed, will ya?” Or, does she get the sunflower offering
only for herself saying: “Go get your own seed!”
Doesn’t matter to me why she visits. Each morning I look for her because, to my
tastes, she outshines the other winter birds.
She is smart too; takes her seed off the rail quickly and flies back to
her tree. “Quurrrr …. Quurrr; chimp, chimp”; no lollygagging around. She does not trust humans and that is as it
should be if you are a bird.
I wonder at the nature of the tiny Chickadee that feed right
from the palm. Not the Red-bellied
Woodpecker, nor the Blue Jay nor the Mourning Dove will eat from the human hand.
Well, at least not mine.
I thought it was the male birds that had color and the other female birds were basically bla in color
ReplyDeleteIn the case of the Red-bellied Woodpecker, both male and females are the same with the exception of the subtle gray cap on female. She still has the scarlet color on back of head and neck. Really beautiful.
ReplyDelete