What is your weather like ... today

[brokensword]

Nothing but pure, clean, clear rain here today at the castle rising to the 40's.
The moat and pond are filling up nicely View attachment 147101

btw, your gator requisition got nixed; seems you wanted the dwarf ones, which are beaucoup dinero, so...don't yell at me, not MY fault the phone to Super Boss' annex is down because

it's a friggin' 19F here today, did I mention that? THE WEATHER is cold, cold, cold.



So, try again for the regular kind; it might go through!

 

[WaterGardener]

Those woodpeckers mate for life. So I would think the females would be around somewhere.

The ones we think of as red headed have an entirely red head and are very vivid dark red, even down the throat, like they were dipped in red paint to the shoulders. They have sold dark wings and white bellies and black tails. Very striking. They aren't very common here, but we see a few every year.

We do have quite a few Pileated Woodpeckers that clean out the suet feeder within a day or two of putting out a new block. Impressive birds.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Those woodpeckers mate for life. So I would think the females would be around somewhere.

The ones we think of as red headed have an entirely red head and are very vivid dark red, even down the throat, like they were dipped in red paint to the shoulders. They have sold dark wings and white bellies and black tails. Very striking. They aren't very common here, but we see a few every year.

We do have quite a few Pileated Woodpeckers that clean out the suet feeder within a day or two of putting out a new block. Impressive birds.

We have a lot of red bellied woodpeckers here in NW North Carolina, as well as the pileated (and oh, YES! they are definitely suet piggies!! lol) We are supposed to be within the range for red headed, but I've never seen one.

It's been unseasonably warm for the past day & a half (50's & raining) but the temps are crashing tonight as we're predicted to drop into the low 20's. Sadly, I found an extra early Wood Frog in one of the skimmer baskets today. He just needs to hunker down for a couple more weeks. I know they come out early, but this is a little extreme even for them!

 

[j.w]

Not too cold for these big bellied babies. The acid rain gets in their squinty little eyes and makes them even meaner!
Think they will do well in the castle moat to protect the royalty in the OTG clan

 

[SarahT]

Sympathies to the frozen Northern GPFers. No gators available for re-home from Florida. Thankfully, so far, no gators at all in my moat pond.

 

[brokensword]

Sympathies to the frozen Northern GPFers. No gators available for re-home from Florida. Thankfully, so far, no gators at all in my moat pond.

Thankfully? Aiin'tcha going fer meanest pond in North America??? I know I'D vote fer ya!

And they're so cute...they could swim right alongside your lil fishies, no?

Okay, I know; need. more. coffee.

 

[Mmathis]

@WaterGardener I just saw the female Red Bellied! And the male came to the feeder as soon as she left. We have Red Headed woodpeckers here as well as Pileateds (Woody Woodpecker, LOL), but the RB’s are more concentrated in my particular location.

 

[brokensword]

 

[WaterGardener]

Glad she finally showed up. Red Bellieds are much more common here as well. The Red Headed ones seems to be here for only a short time, then they disappear to parts unknown. Pileateds are always around and it's easy to hear them turning trees into wood chips.

We also have Downy Woodpeckers here. Very cute little birds.

 

[brokensword]

Glad she finally showed up. Red Bellieds are much more common here as well. The Red Headed ones seems to be here for only a short time, then they disappear to parts unknown. Pileateds are always around and it's easy to hear them turning trees into wood chips.

We also have Downy Woodpeckers here. Very cute little birds.

I envy your pileateds! Never seen one around here, but I'm in suburbia, even if there's some bit of stand of woods. HAVE seen the red-bellied (heads, like YOU noted) and have downies--they're a blast chasing off the nuthatches, who in turn chase off the chickadees!

 

[GBBUDD]

That was not a pileated Yes the both have red on the head nut pileated get 4 times as large unless thats a female.
This is the pileated

 

[WaterGardener]

Here ya' go Brokensword. Picture taken out the front window. Notice the suet cage feeder is almost completely empty, as usual when they are around.

 

[brokensword]

Here ya' go Brokensword. Picture taken out the front window. Notice the suet cage feeder is almost completely empty, as usual when they are around.

View attachment 147142

you've GOT to be KIDDING!!!! THREEEEEEEE????? Sheesh. Envy just isn't strong enough...sigh...you must live in woodpecker heaven, or is that Idaho? Gonna hafta call you the Pileated Whisperer from now on...

 

[WaterGardener]

Yep, Woodpeckers R Us!

Northwestern Virginia actually. We were surprised to find so many here when we moved here over 20 years ago. People here didn't know why they were on the endangered species list at the time. They always had plenty of them. Must be the perfect environment for them. All we do is feed them in the winter, just so we can enjoy seeing them.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

We love woodpecker watching! We have a big platform feeder & suet holders on a large tree down in the yard, and a smaller hopper feeder right outside our sunroom window. When the weather is cold enough, even the pileated woodpeckers will come to the one right up at the house (what a thrill it is to see them that up close & personal!)

red-bellied woodpecker

downy woodpecker

hairy woodpecker

and another shot of Woody outside the sunroom (you can see the window frame on the right side)