Featheredfriday - Woodpeckers and Big Day

in Feathered Friends2 years ago

Hello Feathered Friends Lovers,

It is Friday and I am very much looking forward to the weekend. As the days become shorter, the time I can spend outside birdwatching shortens. The weekend is the best for birding and I wish that it won't rain. Moreover, Saturday 9th is a Big Day. What does it mean? It means that everyone can spend some time birding and record in the checklist in https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-2021. If you are interested check the link. It is simple and easy and you can do it even from home just watching through the window if the weather is not favourable. You can be a part of the thousands who will take part. If you know nothing about birds and birding, you can still participate and learn new things. It is fun and you can do it with kids and friends.

We also celebrate today and tomorrow the World Migratory Bird Day. Let me tell you what happened the other day. Hubby went with the dog for walk and fed the stray cats outside the entrance. Suddenly he heard thud and small birdie fell right next to the dog. He took it before the cats caught it and thought it was dead, but after giving a rub, the bird went off. Of what he has made as a picture it appeared to be Willow warbler, another migratory bird. I very much hope the little bird managed to find his way to the warmer places safe and sound.

For today I prepared series of photos of woodpeckers. They are not going to migrate and the more the trees loose their leaves, the better the woodpeckers to be spotted. I guess I will have new photos next days, but for now I will take the ones I made recently and not published yet.

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As you know my observations are mainly from the area where I live. I have mentioned before that the most common woodpecker here is the Syrian spotted, like the one on the photo.

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I hate when branches or leaves obscure the bird. I don't want to loose precious moments and keep on clicking. After that I always will sort out which photos to keep and post.

I think this is young male woodpecker. It is sheer luck for me to get sharp image of a bird taking off. The one below is far from best.

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Woodpeckers can be followed easily when they hop from branch to branch and fly to the nearest tree.

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Here I got few shots of the bird on the almond tree.

And looking back in the my photo files, here is a photo I did last month of the Great spotted woodpecker - female.

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Did you see the black line that starts from the beak and ends at the back of the head? This is the feature that distinguish Great Spotted from the Syrian.

In both species, the females have black cap while males have red. Always amazed by the hard work the woodpeckers do drilling the trees.


And that is all for now. The rain may spoil the pleasure of birding tomorrow, but I will try to do my checklist anyway. What about you. Are you going to join the Big Day?

Happy Birding

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@nelinoeva, you've been given LUV from @mariya36.

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👍Syrian and great spotted woodpeckers, close relatives.

Yes, they are. I am pleased theybare living so close to my home.

I keep forgetting to start contributing to ebird! Long since I've seen a woodpecker, great photos!

Woodpeckers are pretty common here. The third one is the Green woodpecker, who we also see quite often. They were the first birds I have start watching and made me interested in birding.

Ahahahah really????? The green woodpecker was probably the first species I spotted when I started birdwatching on my own too! :))

Really? 😀
Honestly when I first saw it I was a bit surprised, because in my mind the woodpecker is black and white with red cap. Little did I know about the variety then.

Yep! Remember it perfectly, since I had started working as volunteer in a wildlife rescue recently, and started to birwatch shortly after. It was one of the first times I birdwatched at my grandparent's village, and that beautiful woodpecker appeared shortly after I entered the woods!