Birds and Nature

The only female Williamson's Sapsucker I have found so far this season was at Harrison School on November 4. However, though I had stopped by that school location a number of times since I had not seen her again. As I not only told the office staff about her when I went in to the school to let them know why someone was walking near the entrance with binoculars and big-honking camera, but I had shown her to a student and her mom. I suspect that staff and students have looked for her and she moved to a quieter location. So this female Williamson's may the bird that was at McKinley. It is difficult to know as these sapsuckers move not only from tree to tree but also to different locations especially early in their wintering season here (maybe trying out different trees/locales to see which one's will be their primary location). As she seemed skittish, I took this pic from about 60 feet away and through the branches of this Scots pine (these are their very favorite sap

I thought it was time to go check on the juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that I found just over a week ago in Centennial Park in Canon City, CO. It had been so very shy I had not wanted to disturb it so haven't been back down to this small urban park since then. I found it today in one of the non-native pine trees that are very popular with wintering sapsuckers here in Colorado. Add caption As it has only been 8 days since I last photographed it there are no evident differences in it's plumage though these will become apparent over the next month or two as it gets more adult feathering. Close examination of the bottom pic shows the few red feathers it has grown on it's forehead so far. (Click on the photos to enlarge them) This bird continues to be exceptionally and though I succeeded in not flushing it by staying about 75 feet away, another person walked just a little closer to the tree in which it was feeding and I saw it fly off into the distance. SeEtt

This is a great video by Cornell Lab of Ornithology about a study in Costa Rica of these cool and brilliantly colored woodpeckers that have a pale bill for which they are named (given the other outstanding physical attributes, why call it by it's least colorful part?). Great videography, nice screens and sounds of Costa Rican rain forest, great bird and interesting study. SeEtta