We sometimes have woodpeckers rattling the barn roof or chimneys at this time of the year. The males like to show off to attract a female. This brilliantly coloured little man decided to bang out his prowess on the stove pipe hubby put up under the feeders to discourage squirrels .For such a wee man he has made a lot of early AM noise. We've never seen him before, and were finally able to identify him as a Red Breasted Sap Sucker. Apparently the hummers love it when he taps a Birch tree, and the sap flows. ( the tin foil at the bottom is falling out, but was a desperate attempt to keep the squirrels from using the pipe as tunnels to the feeders) . The following one makes me laugh....he has his legs apart and ready to start hammering. Bracing himself....
Lovely bird, if a bit loud! We have woodpeckers, but thankfully they constrain themselves to pecking wood.
It looks like that woodpecker takes his work very seriously. What a lovely thing he is. Did the alu foil work to keep the squirrel out? I don’t trust those guys, I would have used an upside down tin can. Ha ha ha. Those little rascals!
@Sjoerd - The battle of Hubby vs Squirrels is ongoing, as are the contraptions he's added to discourage them. First he hung the feeders out about 3 ft. The squirrels climbed the post and accessed the feeders. ( All three were marketted as "squirrel proof") He then added stove pipe to the posts so that they couldn't climb the posts. Soon, they figured out to climb inside the pipe up the posts. We filled the pipes with tin foil, which did discourage them. Every once in a while they try to pull it out, as in the photo. Then they began to leap from the tree branches Kamikaze style, onto the top of the post and hang upside down to access the feeders with their front paws ( gymnasts and circus stars). Hubby then made roofs for the posts from old tin roofing to discourage the acrobats. Now, every once in a while a young one will take a chance and try to jump up from the railing. We will find one in the squirrel proof feeder feeling proud of themselves every so often. One summer we live trapped and relocated them. After 35 squirrels we decided the fuel bill for transportation was not worth it, and we could only do it at certain times of the year to avoid thier littles being left behind. They are so territorial, one would move out and three would try to move in. So....now that we seem to have the problem "managed"....we realized that the nocturnal flying squirrels are even more clever and agile. They have no issues swooping into the feeders at night from many meters up in the tree. We just roll with it at this point, as long as no one is being destructive.
My word Mel ! What a squirrel saga you guys have been dealing with. Its almost like you have to build a five-sided pen around the feeder. Chapeau for your efforts.
