Sunday, June 12, 2011

Feeding the Red Bellied Baby

I just love watching the birds outside my windows. Recently, we've had some really sweet entertainment as a baby Red Bellied woodpecker has been being fed sunflower seeds from my bird feeder by its parent:





The adult Red Bellied woodpecker flies to my birdfeeder, then back to a tree where the seed is broken against the bark.





 The baby Red Bellied woodpecker waits in anxious anticipation of being fed!



Awe...this is what the little one has been waiting for!



This has been one busy parent;-)  Soon, I expect to see the youngster taking the seed directly from the feeder.





(Unfortunately my camera has begun to produce blurry photos. It was sent in for repair but is still not producing the 'consistently clear' photos I'm used to seeing. We may need to consider a replacement camera in the future. In the meantime, please forgive my less-than-stellar shots!).
Hope you make it a great day today!


Words and photos ©Thanks for today.™, by Jan Huston Doble @ http://www.thanksfor2day.blogspot.com/
Not to be reproduced or re-blogged without express permission of the author.

24 comments:

  1. Very cool! Great shots of showing the parents feeding the baby.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a fun show!! I love watching Mother Nature. You have a great front row seat for bird watching.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aw, so adorable! What great pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a beautiful set of photos. Thanks so much. Helps to make my day! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Too sweet !!
    Haven't seen one around here since the winter before last. :(
    That baby sure is big.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What incredible pictures! I have the same woodpeckers but their favorite feeder and the suet feeders are in the back of my garden so I miss the big show. Great photos!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Delightful photos! I don't know, however -- that baby looks big enough to be feeding himself! Reminds me of some human kids I know, depending on their parents to do things for them. But maybe the adult isn't quite ready to let go.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, doesn't it just warm your heart that you're helping a little bird family? Great photos!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jan,
    Your right it is sweet! Just another one of natures wonders, glad you good share it with us!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great photos Jan! It looks like it's 'Dad' feeding the baby. I have not seen any baby Red Bellies here, just some young nuthatches.
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  11. They are so cute and these are really good photos. I never saw a baby, yet have a set of parents here in my yard. Maybe it is too early yet for them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Amazing, Jan! I've also seen it when the babies are sure they should still get fed, and the parents disagree. That's often almost comical, because it's pretty clear those babies are no longer babies...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear Jan, The wildlife in my garden is a continuing source of delight to me, too. Wonderful posting! P. x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Precious wildlife moments caught on your camera here..!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cute, and you got great pictures

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh, that is sweet! I have these woodpeckers here as well, but never been blessed to see a baby.

    ReplyDelete
  17. They are just so much fun to watch and the babies are so cute. I took pictures of a pair in my back yard last spring and I loved watching mommy teaching the baby to open the sunflower seeds and walk up the sides of trees. LOL! Great shots Jan.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Despite your camera disclaimer you have managed to get some great shots! I really enjoy the birds in the garden. Very uplifting.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you, Tina:-)

    Thanks, Janet:-) I do have great front row seats here in my family room!

    Thanks Alison;-)

    Thank you Patricia, glad it made your day:-)

    Thanks, Patsi. Yes, the babies are big.

    Hi Tammy, thanks! Glad you could enjoy it here since you don't get to see them much at your feeders.

    Deb, glad you enjoyed the photos;-) The babies are quite large but they are unable to grasp on and balance themselves at the feeders...and they also cannot break the seeds open. It can be deceiving, looking at their size...you would think they could but really they are just young juveniles learning the ropes.

    Grace, yes, I guess it does warm my heart, when I look at it that way. I hadn't even thought how I was helping them but providing the seeds really is helpful to them. Hopefully, the parents also teach the kids how to hunt for bugs and other things found naturally in the wild. I'd hate to think if I didn't put seed out that they'd starve!

    Thanks Randy...it's certainly is one of nature's many wonders and I'm glad you enjoyed seeing it here;-)

    Thanks Heather! It does look like the dad. I've been looking for the female parent but have not been able to see her. I'm wondering if something happened to her as she hasn't been around at all. I haven't seen any nuthatch babies around here, although I have seen the adults.

    Thanks Donna:-) This is actually the first year I've seen a baby red-bellied woodpecker and I have the adults here year round. It could be that they've been here other years and I didn't notice because they are so large!

    Thanks TownMouse:-) I've seen that happen here, too, with the finches and cardinals. I watch the babies go to the feeders and eat, and when the parent flies in the baby suddenly opens it's mouth and wants to be fed. So darn cute!

    Thanks Pam! I'm glad you are enjoying your wildlife garden too...I know you have LOTS going on there;-)

    Thanks Darla, glad you enjoyed it!

    Hi Rusty, thank you;-) Happy you enjoyed the photos!

    Thanks Laurie! I hope some day you'll get to see a baby. It's slightly hard to tell the difference, since they're almost the same size! The juvenile has very soft, downy feathers on its belly and little to no red on the head.

    Hi Lona, thanks! How cool to watch the mother teaching the baby how to open the seeds. I've been watching them both (father and baby) walking up and down the trees but so far, dad's doing all the work. I haven't seen the baby try it yet...but I don't watch all the time so a lot could happen while I'm not looking;-)

    Thank you, Byddi! I'm glad you enjoy the birds in your garden, too. It is so uplifting and awesome to watch the miracles of nature--in action!

    ReplyDelete
  20. They are definitely cute! You've provided a nice sequence showing the parental care.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Aw-w...so cute! I love watching the birds at this time of year when the parents are tending to the young ones. Sometimes I almost feel as if I am a Godparent as I chase away other birds from nests, remove dead birds from active nests, and watch to make sure all is well. It is such a joy to work with and be with nature...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Birds are so cool to watch and especially where the babies are concerned...great pics and post....sooo cute

    ReplyDelete
  23. That baby is adorable ~ and so big already!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Cameron, Sage, Donna, & Sweetbay...thanks for stopping by and for your comments;-) I so enjoy watching nature and helping when necessary, too;-)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for visiting and taking the time to comment! Please enjoy your TODAY and all of the gifts in YOUR garden of life!

Jan

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Post Topics

17 year Cicadas...Enough Already! 2011 Official Post 2012 4th of July collage 5-lined skink A Certain Kind of Light A Cozy Fire A Dusting of Snow A Family Meal A Hawkish Tale A Little Bit of Winter A Visit From Miss Glad on Blooming Friday A Visit With The Queen A Warm Cup of Tea Acorns African Violets African Violets:Kitty Style Agastache Allium Am I too late for GBBD Amaryllis Amazing Zinnias American Beautyberry American Hazelnut American Lady American Robin Anemone Anenome Anglewings Anise Hyssop Another Birthday aphids April 2010 April blooms Arbor Day Are Words Really Necessary? Artemesia Asarum Asclepias Asiatic lilies Aster Aster Yellows Audubon-at-Home August 2009 GBBD August 2013 Autumn Autumn Reflections Awards Awesome Azaleas Azalea on Ice;Picture This Photo Contest;Winter's Beauty Azaleas Azealea Back Yard Backyard Bird Series backyard birds Backyard Makeover Bald Eagles Balloon Flower Bee Collage Bee-Balm Bees Bees Busily Buzzing on Blooms Before and After Being Settled berries Big Eyes Bird Collage Bird Conversations Bird Itch Birdfeeding Birds Birds Before Blooms Birthday Books Black Swallowtail Black Swallowtail Butterflies Black Swallowtail butterfly cats Blackeyed Susan Bleeding Heart Blog Anniversary Blogger blogging blogging friends Blogiversary Blooming Friday Blotanical Blotanical awards Blotanical's 2009 Best Virginia Award Blue Blooms Bluebeard Bluebird Bluebird Fledglings Bluebird in Snow Botanical Interests Boulder Bouquet of the Month:April 2010 Bouquet of the Month:March 2010 Bright Flowers broad-winged damselfly Brown Creeper Brunnera Buddleia Bugbane Bulbs BulbsSproutinginPot Bumblebees Butterflies BUTTERFLIES LIVE Butterfly on Salvia Butterfly weed Calorie-Free Candy Camera-less in April Can You Guess What This Is? Can You Please Identify Me Can't Get Enough Cosmos Cancer Experience Cardinal Cardinal (Female) Cardinal (Male) Cardinal Flower Carolina Wren Carolyn's Shade Gardens Carpenter Bees Carpet Rose Caryopteris Caryopteris x clandonensis Catmint Cedar Waxwing CedarWaxwing celandine poppy Celebrate Your Freedom Cercis canadensis Certified Wildlife Sanctuary Chelone Cherry Blossoms Chickadee Chris McLaughlin Christmas Fern Christmas Rose Chrysanthemum Cicada's Ahead of Schedule Cicada's May 2009 Cicadas May 2013 Cinquefoil Clematis CobraHead Collage Collages Columbine Common Buckeye Common Whitetail dragonfly Composter Coneflower Containers Cooper's Hawk Coral Red Honeysuckle Coreopsis Corona Corydalis Cosmos Covered Hellebore Plants Cozy and Warm Cranberrybush Vibernum Crepe Myrtle Crested Iris Crocus Crocus 'Romance' Crow Cut Flowers From My Garden Cutleaved Coneflower Daffodil Daffodils dainty blue flowers Dayflower Daylilies December 2010 December Birds Deer Poop Desert Island Plant Challenge Desperate for Color on Bloom Day Devastation in the Garden Devotion Dicentra Digitalis purpurea Does This Outfit Make Me Look Fat? Dogs Dragonflies Dragonfly or Damselfly Dried Blooms ducklings Dutchman's Breeches Dwarf Nandina Dwarf Sumac e-Bird e.e.cummings e.e.cummings:i thank You God for most this amazing Earth Day Eastern Bluebird Eastern Comma butterfly Eastern Redbud Eastern Tiger Swallowtail eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly Ebony Jewelwing Echinacea Elderberry Emily Dickinson End of the Line Epimedium Euphorbia Evening Primrose facebook Faith Fall Color Project Feasting on Seeds Feb 2010 GBBD Feb 2010 monster storm Feeling Blue Feeling Blue? Finch Fire Pink First Day of April First Snow First Snowfall Project Fiskars Flame Azalea Flat Tire Basket Flick'r photo large sizes Floral Collages Focal Black and White photo Foliage-Followup Forsythia Fourth of July Foxglove Foxy in November Free Will Friends Fritillaria Frozen Blooms Galanthus Garden Garden Blessings Garden Blogger Bloom Day:November 2008 Garden Blogger Muse Day November 2009 Garden Blogger Muse Day:December 2008 Garden Blogger's Bloom Day:January 2009 Garden Bloggers Garden Bloggers Bloom Day Garden Bloggers Muse Day Garden Bloggers Muse Day (April 2009) Garden Bloggers Operation Christmas Child Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Garden Bloggers' Muse Day: June 2009 Garden Books Garden Give Away Garden Give Aways Garden Give-Aways Garden Product Give Away Gardening Gone Wild photography contest Gardening Nude Gardening-by-Letter project GardenShoesOnline Garter Snake Ingests Toad GBBD Febrary 2009 GBBD July 2009 GBBD June 2010 GBBD March 09 GBBD:December 2008 GBMD May 2009 GBMD:January 2009 Geese in a Row--and Ducks too Giant Hyssop Give-Away Winner Gladiola Gloves Go Native Goblins and Pumpkins and Snakes oh my God in the Garden Golden Groundsel Goldenglow Goldenrod Goldfinch Goodbye March Graham Rice Gramma's Afghan Grapes Grasshopper Grateful Great Backyard Bird Count Great House Plant Census of 2010 Green and Gold Green Cure fungicide Hairy Woodpecker Happy Father's Day Haven Brand Manure Tea Hawk hawks Heated Birdbath Heather Heliopsis Heliotrope Hellebore Hellebore Collage HelleboreHover Hellebores Hellebores Book Give-Away Helleborus Helleborus niger Help Identify Animal Tracks Henry David Thoreau: Hepatica Heron Heuchera High School Orchestra Concert Highbush Blueberry Hip Mountain Mama Holiday Stress Holiday stress: How Much is Self-Imposed Holly Honored and Humbled Hornworms House Finch Hummingbird Clearwing Hyacinth Hyacinths Hylotelephium I Am Truly Thankful! I'm a bit Bee-hind Iberis Ice on Stream Ice Storm Ilex Impatiens Indentifying Butterflies Iris Iris reticulata It's Here Its Grown On Me Jacob's Ladder January 2010 snow January 2011 January 2013 Japanese Anemone Joe Pye Weed John Keats July garden 2010 Junco June 19th 2009 Just Be Gardens Kerria Kerria-Japanese Rose Keter Dynamic Composter Kombi Ladybird Johnson Lake Anna Lake Anna June 2009 Lake Vacation Lamium Lantana Late to the Party Again lavender Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Leyland Cypress Liatris Life Experiences Light Lilac Bush Limestone Liriope Liverwort Lobelia Lonicera sempervirens Luna the Greyhound Lungwort Lyme Disease Lyme Disease has gone to my Head Macro in a Mason Jar Mallard ducks March Birthday Bloggers March GBBD mention master gardener May 2010 May Apple Meaning Memorial Day 2010 Memories Mertensia Mid Summer's Eve Mid-June Blooms MidMarch Blooms and Foliage Milkweed Miniature Dachshund mishmash wednesday Mistflower Mites Monarchs Monarchs and Milkweed Monarda Monkshood Monthly Garden Bouquet Moon More April Bouquets Morning Light Mountain Laurel Mourning Doves MuhlyGrass Mums Muscari Muscle My Cat Smokie My Daughter My Dog James My Family My FIRST Enlarged Photo My Husband My Mother My Son My Yard Mystery Tracks Nandina Nandina berries National Cherry Blossom Festival Native Ginger Native Honeysuckle native plants Natural Habitat Nepata New York Fern Non-Natives Northern Flicker Not The Best Notecards November 2009 GBBD Now that's an 'ice picture Obedient Plant Oct 2008 GBBD Almost Ready Oct 2009 October 2009GBBD Of Gloves and Shovels Oh Say Can You See Okay so who or what is eating my plants Oliver Herford:I Heard a Bird Sing Operation Christmas Child Pain Management Techniques Pansies Pansy paperwhites Pay It Forward Project Pay-It-Forward gift-giving exchange Peanut Feeder Peonies by Mary Oliver Peony Perennials Perennials in my garden Perovskia Personal Poetry Personal Poetry: Petunia Phlox Phlox paniculata photo contest Photography Contests phytoplasma Pieris Pieris Japonica Pileated Woodpecker Pine Siskin Pink Azalea Pink Peony Planting Natives Plants on Ice Poetry Pollinators Polymonium Pond Critters Poppy Potentilla Potomac River Pretty Pink Peony Has Popped Prize Winners Product Reviews Project FeederWatch Pulmonaria Pumpkin Carving Purple Coneflower Purpose Questionmark butterfly radishes Rain Rain Barrel Rainbarrel Rainbow Project Rainy Days Raspberry and Lemon Sherbet Reasons I Garden red admiral Red Winged Blackbird Red-Bellied Woodpecker Red-Spotted Purple Red-winged Blackbird Redbud Relaxing Remember Renee's Garden Revised GBBD February 15 Richmond VA Robert Frost Robin Robin'sNestingPlace Rock Soapwort Rock Solid RockSoapwort Roly-Poly Squirrel Rose hips Roses Roses with Thorns Rosy Maple Moth Rudbeckia Rudbeckia lanciniata Russian Sage S.A.D. Salvia Salvia greggi Samuel Taylor Coleridge:The Nightengale Sanguinaria Scilla Seagulls Seasonal Affective Disorder Security Blanket Sedum Sedum Autumn Joy Seed Planting Experiment Seed Starter System Seed-Planting Experiment#1 Seed-Planting Experiment#2 Seed-Planting Experiment#2 (cont.) Seeds Sense of Humor September blooms September Blooms:A Series of Surprises September Surprises #3 Serviceberry Shades of Blue Shady Gardener:Gladsome Be? sharing Sharp-shinned Hawk Shawna Coronado Shirl's Garden Watch Siberion Buglose Skink Slaty Skimmer dragonfly Snake Snake skin Snow Snow in Spring Snowdrop Anenome Snowdrops Snowstorm Solomon's Seal Sounds of the Birds Speedwell Spicebush Swallowtail Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly cats spicebush swallowtail caterpillar Spider Webs Spiderwort sprained ankle Spring Buds and Bulbs Spring Has Sprung Spurge Squirrel Squirrels stainless steel water bottle Standard Poodle Starling Steam on Fence Strawberries Succulents Summer Flowers SunRays Sunrise Sustainable Living project Swallowtail Butterflies Sweaters Hoods and Coats Sweet Allysum Sweet William Teacup and Teapot Tete-a-Tete Thank You to Phillip Thanksgiving The Best Christmas Gifts The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores The GGW photo contest I 'almost' entered on time The Multi-Hued Greens of Spring The Ocean The Seed Keeper Company The Sun Shines at Night The Thrush This Ain't No April Fools Joke This aMayzing Day Thyme Tiarella Titmouse Toad Lily Tools Toulouse goose Tradescantia Tree Sparrow Trees Trillium Trout Lily Tufted Titmouse Tulips Tulips in Spring Tulips on Thursday Turtle Crossing turtle garden Turtlehead TX-Bluebonnet Umbrella VA Gardener Magazine Valentine's Display variegated foliage Verbena Veronica Vinca Violas Virginia Bluebells Virginia Gardener Magazine Wake Robin Walt Whitman:Miracles Washington DC Water Fountain Water Garden Waterfall/Stream WBBS Wednesday Words Weeping Willow West County Gardener What Are You Waiting For What d'ya think Janet What's Happening? What's New in November White Embden geese White Peony White-Breasted Nuthatch Wild Geranium Wild Ginger Wildflower Wednesday Wildflowers Will the Real Turtle Please Come Out William Wordsworth William Wordsworth:The Daffodil's Willow Leaved Sunflower Window; Death; Personal Photography Winter I Am So Over You Winter is for the Birds Winter Light Winter Solstice winter storm slide-show Winter Walk-Off 2014 Winterberry Witch Hazel Woodfern Woodland Pinkroot Woodpecker WORDLESS Friday Wordless Wednesday: Wren X-Rated Yellow but not Mellow Yesterday and Today Zinnia Zinnia Bud (Plan B)