watermelonpunch
Well-known member
Northeastern Pennsylvania, city of Scranton.
Tuesday 4:30pm my husband arrived home to find a bird curled up on our back stoop step. He was up on the first step of 2, curled and apparently sleeping with his head tucked in. He was really right out in the open.
I could immediately see the black & white spot pattern and a bit of red right on top of his head... and thought downy woodpecker - but he didn't look like a woodpecker. Plus he was rather small, even for a downy. I got a second opinion, with a picture, and sure now he's a fledgling downy woodpecker.
He had what appeared to be blood on his white fluffy belly feathers. It didn't look particularly fresh... almost like it could've just been the colour of his feathers.
We watched him for about half an hour.
Finally he woke up. Then he hopped off the step and into the back yard. He didn't appear sick. But definitely wobbly in his hopping.
My husband said one of his wings looked not right. I could not tell.
He tried to climb our picnic table.
So we moved him over to some tall fir trees next to a shed.
I figured if he was trying to climb the picnic table, maybe he'd be best off heading up a thick tree & away from neighborhood cats & prying eyes of predators!
He climbed the fir tree... pretty high actually. And he was up there when it was getting dark.
Next morning (Wednesday)... I found him at the base of the fir tree poking around in the leaf & needle litter.
When I got close he hopped on the tree & started climbing.
I was kind of relieved because before this he didn't seem at all bothered by my presence, and it worried me that he wasn't afraid of me.
When I got home at 4:30pm (Wednesday), I checked the fir tree first thing of course! No sign of him.
About a half hour later, my husband found him in the front yard sitting on a branch of one of our small bush trees. We have a couple of small trees and a couple of old lilac bushes that are kind of tree-like in our front yard.
He was bopping along the branches of the tree less than 6ft off the ground.
And he didn't seem too particularly concerned with our presence frankly.
But we backed off when he didn't go anywhere.
He did start chirping for a few seconds after we backed away. I don't know that I've heard a downy woodpecker chirp before, so I really couldn't say whether it was distressed or not.
At this point I noticed that his one wing was kind of dodgy... just sort of akimbo as he crawled around on the branches.
He didn't appear to be agonizing. Not that I know what a bird in pain looks like.
Seemed to have no problem using his tail feathers. More like the one wing seemed to be getting in his way or something just a bit. But he had no problem moving up & down & across the tree branches with his feet & tail.
But he didn't fly.
He then dropped to the ground... and I was shutting off my camera & didn't see it, but my husband said it looked like he jumped deliberately. But did not fly.
He then bopped over to another tree and started climbing that one.
And then I saw him jump, and it sure looked deliberate.
And then he climbed another...
And, I have a suet feeder I'd offered him yesterday (Tuesday) and he didn't seem interested. And it was on a tree he was climbing, but he didn't seem to be interested.
But I do think he's been eating because he has energy and I watched him poke around on the ground quite a bit, and I saw him poke at the tree bark. He didn't make audible woodpecker sounds, but he was definitely pecking.
And honestly he wasn't flying on the way down when he hopped out of the trees, but he didn't seem to be in any pain or bothered much about having hit the ground. He was only falling from about 4 feet of course.
Then my husband & I went for a walk in the neighborhood for about a half hour.
When we got back, my husband was debating about whether to take out & use the outdoor grill or if it was going to storm soon...
And when we went to the back of the house, there was the woodpecker climbing up the canvas grill cover, and then bopping around on top of the grill!
Well we're watching the woodpecker on top of the grill.
My husband's lamenting that he won't be barbecuing chicken outdoors either way now. Then we hear thunder, and there's some raindrops.
The woodpecker deliberately jumped off the top of the grill, and ...
Where the grill is stored near the house, just behind it there's my husband's prior convertible top (which he replaced it with a new one on his car) that he's neglected to take to the junk yard yet. (hrm) It's kind of mostly folded up old soft top (for a miata so it's small), and leaning against the house and the grill is in front of it, pretty much obscuring it from sight except for on the side.
The woodpecker went under the old miata folded soft top, and was kind poking around and nestling into some grass under there.
It then stormed for a couple of hours.
It's just stopped raining and I just checked - bent down with a flashlight near the ground I can just about peer under it and see him... and it's now after 11pm (Wednesday) and he's under there still, sleeping with his head tucked in. I didn't wake him. I just took a peek and he stirred but didn't untuck his head. Looks dry under there too.
Sooo....
Is his wing damaged? Or is it possible he's just not ready to fly yet?
Is any of this normal behaviour at all?
Will he ever fly?
If he can't ever fly can he survive?
Did he go under there to take shelter from the storm?
Where was his birthing nest? I have no clue.
I've not seen any parent birds coming to him either.
In fact, it's been weeks since I've seen a downy woodpecker in our yard.
(I'd hesitated putting the suet feeders back up because we were having a starling problem the past few weeks. They only moved on within the last few days.)
I'm not keen on his taking up bedtime on the ground like that, but he is more or less out of sight from passing cats that aren't too inquisitive. And maybe that's normal?
I haven't seen the 2 neighbor's cats in our yard since my husband started walking his cat in the yard on a leash the past couple weeks. So maybe he'll be okay under there tonight. He made it through last night somehow.
I just hope cats don't get him.
But is there something I ought to do?
He's a wild bird, so I don't think there's much I could do.
I'm kind of hoping someone will say this is all normal and he'll just learn to fly or whatnot. But from what I've read about downy woodpeckers, they supposedly fly out of their nests. Not like other birds that tromp around in the bushes on the ground for a few days.
????
Tuesday 4:30pm my husband arrived home to find a bird curled up on our back stoop step. He was up on the first step of 2, curled and apparently sleeping with his head tucked in. He was really right out in the open.
I could immediately see the black & white spot pattern and a bit of red right on top of his head... and thought downy woodpecker - but he didn't look like a woodpecker. Plus he was rather small, even for a downy. I got a second opinion, with a picture, and sure now he's a fledgling downy woodpecker.
He had what appeared to be blood on his white fluffy belly feathers. It didn't look particularly fresh... almost like it could've just been the colour of his feathers.
We watched him for about half an hour.
Finally he woke up. Then he hopped off the step and into the back yard. He didn't appear sick. But definitely wobbly in his hopping.
My husband said one of his wings looked not right. I could not tell.
He tried to climb our picnic table.
So we moved him over to some tall fir trees next to a shed.
I figured if he was trying to climb the picnic table, maybe he'd be best off heading up a thick tree & away from neighborhood cats & prying eyes of predators!
He climbed the fir tree... pretty high actually. And he was up there when it was getting dark.
Next morning (Wednesday)... I found him at the base of the fir tree poking around in the leaf & needle litter.
When I got close he hopped on the tree & started climbing.
I was kind of relieved because before this he didn't seem at all bothered by my presence, and it worried me that he wasn't afraid of me.
When I got home at 4:30pm (Wednesday), I checked the fir tree first thing of course! No sign of him.
About a half hour later, my husband found him in the front yard sitting on a branch of one of our small bush trees. We have a couple of small trees and a couple of old lilac bushes that are kind of tree-like in our front yard.
He was bopping along the branches of the tree less than 6ft off the ground.
And he didn't seem too particularly concerned with our presence frankly.
But we backed off when he didn't go anywhere.
He did start chirping for a few seconds after we backed away. I don't know that I've heard a downy woodpecker chirp before, so I really couldn't say whether it was distressed or not.
At this point I noticed that his one wing was kind of dodgy... just sort of akimbo as he crawled around on the branches.
He didn't appear to be agonizing. Not that I know what a bird in pain looks like.
Seemed to have no problem using his tail feathers. More like the one wing seemed to be getting in his way or something just a bit. But he had no problem moving up & down & across the tree branches with his feet & tail.
But he didn't fly.
He then dropped to the ground... and I was shutting off my camera & didn't see it, but my husband said it looked like he jumped deliberately. But did not fly.
He then bopped over to another tree and started climbing that one.
And then I saw him jump, and it sure looked deliberate.
And then he climbed another...
And, I have a suet feeder I'd offered him yesterday (Tuesday) and he didn't seem interested. And it was on a tree he was climbing, but he didn't seem to be interested.
But I do think he's been eating because he has energy and I watched him poke around on the ground quite a bit, and I saw him poke at the tree bark. He didn't make audible woodpecker sounds, but he was definitely pecking.
And honestly he wasn't flying on the way down when he hopped out of the trees, but he didn't seem to be in any pain or bothered much about having hit the ground. He was only falling from about 4 feet of course.
Then my husband & I went for a walk in the neighborhood for about a half hour.
When we got back, my husband was debating about whether to take out & use the outdoor grill or if it was going to storm soon...
And when we went to the back of the house, there was the woodpecker climbing up the canvas grill cover, and then bopping around on top of the grill!
Well we're watching the woodpecker on top of the grill.
My husband's lamenting that he won't be barbecuing chicken outdoors either way now. Then we hear thunder, and there's some raindrops.
The woodpecker deliberately jumped off the top of the grill, and ...
Where the grill is stored near the house, just behind it there's my husband's prior convertible top (which he replaced it with a new one on his car) that he's neglected to take to the junk yard yet. (hrm) It's kind of mostly folded up old soft top (for a miata so it's small), and leaning against the house and the grill is in front of it, pretty much obscuring it from sight except for on the side.
The woodpecker went under the old miata folded soft top, and was kind poking around and nestling into some grass under there.
It then stormed for a couple of hours.
It's just stopped raining and I just checked - bent down with a flashlight near the ground I can just about peer under it and see him... and it's now after 11pm (Wednesday) and he's under there still, sleeping with his head tucked in. I didn't wake him. I just took a peek and he stirred but didn't untuck his head. Looks dry under there too.
Sooo....
Is his wing damaged? Or is it possible he's just not ready to fly yet?
Is any of this normal behaviour at all?
Will he ever fly?
If he can't ever fly can he survive?
Did he go under there to take shelter from the storm?
Where was his birthing nest? I have no clue.
I've not seen any parent birds coming to him either.
In fact, it's been weeks since I've seen a downy woodpecker in our yard.
(I'd hesitated putting the suet feeders back up because we were having a starling problem the past few weeks. They only moved on within the last few days.)
I'm not keen on his taking up bedtime on the ground like that, but he is more or less out of sight from passing cats that aren't too inquisitive. And maybe that's normal?
I haven't seen the 2 neighbor's cats in our yard since my husband started walking his cat in the yard on a leash the past couple weeks. So maybe he'll be okay under there tonight. He made it through last night somehow.
I just hope cats don't get him.
But is there something I ought to do?
He's a wild bird, so I don't think there's much I could do.
I'm kind of hoping someone will say this is all normal and he'll just learn to fly or whatnot. But from what I've read about downy woodpeckers, they supposedly fly out of their nests. Not like other birds that tromp around in the bushes on the ground for a few days.
????
