Thursday 2nd.June 2016
It’s been a very special Woodpecker day. From morning to evening, the Greater Spotted Woodpecker family have been feeding and training around the Fat Balls in my front Garden.
So fascinated by this I watched the virtually the whole time and came up with a few threories (probably all been said before somewhere!).
Morning and the Mother joins the Son at the Table
At 0700hr the Mother turned up, flew to the Feeder, looked around then went n to the Telegraph Pole by the Lane and tapped loudly. As soon as she did this, the son flew down and joined her.
After that the son flew on to the ‘table’ half way down the feeder and Mother went up for the food.
About 6 times she came down and fed him.
Even a Green Woodpecker came to watch!!
After a while the Mother flew off and left him for about 5 minutes but I noticed her watching him in a nearby tree.
Was this all part of the juvenile’s training? Read on.
Up til around 1745hr both Mother and Father flew down separately many times and appeared to take food back with them. Is there another juvenile not as progressed as the one earlier?
At 1745hr both Mother and Son returned to the same position as the morning. However, this time she only took food down to him once.
She was eating and kept looking down at him, he in turn looked up at her wondering why, then carefully climbed half way up the pole to the Feeder.
She fed him once there and did the same as the morning, left him whilst watching from the tree.
Giving him confidence