Young Woodpecker

The Red-bellied Woodpecker pair that I’ve been seeing all spring has managed to produce at least one offspring.  This youngster has joined its male parent at the feeder for a lesson on consuming sunflower seeds.  It waits on the branch while its father fetches the food.

The parent begins by selecting a sunflower seed from the feeder.

The selected morsel is carried up to the dead tree trunk to be deposited into the male bird’s preferred seed shelling hole.  The woodpecker never fails to have a good look around before placing the seed into the hole.

The hole may be a way of safeguarding the secret to shelling sunflower seeds.  More likely, it just holds the seed in place while the bird breaks in to remove the meat.

As the parent works, the youngster moves closer in anticipation of being fed.

The parent is quite practiced at opening sunflower seeds and has a meal ready in seconds.  The young bird gets its food and the parent hops back down to the feeder to begin the process again.  After about a dozen seeds, the pair went to the ground for some cracked corn.  At last they headed off to the trees, hopefully to balance their diet with some more natural food items.

A Camera Critters submission.