Birds and Nature

The juvenile Lewis's Woodpecker in the top pic shows a little reddish coloration on it's belly feathers. Otherwise these look like they do in the video clips. SeEtta

This clip gives a nice view of the juvenal plumage of these Lewis's Woodpeckers including a good look at the of the warm chesnut tones on it's head. According to "Birds of North America" online there is considerable variation in juvenal plumage in birds in these post-breeding flocks but does note that "feathers of hindneck have white subterminal spots (not present in adult....)"--these white spots can be seen if the video is stopped when it's back is to the camera. BNA also notes that the tail feathers are more pointed than in adult plumage a feature seen at the end of this clip. One of the woodpeckers flies over to the top of a snag and has what looks like a winged insect in it's bill. It proceeds to either cache this food or try to dig more insects out? I have watched this clip over and over and cannot tell whether it is food caching or finding. This species is known for caching acorns in tree crevices (tho I didn't find anything about them ca...

I first found these Lewis's Woodpeckers in juvenal plumage on Aug 13 flying from branch to branch on the likely nest tree. However, they flew across the river before I could count how many there were or see if they were still being fed by parents. I refound them on Aug 21 just a few hundred feet from the probable nest tree and they were clearly foraging for themselves when I took this very short video clip. SeEtta