Today's Weather in Your Garden - 17

Woodpecker??

Maybe, Victor - whoever it is, it's cute!

Definitely a woodpecker, victor. Possibly a Downy.

It's 74 here in the mid-Hudson with the sun and clouds playing tag today. The humidity is pretty high, but no rain since the pre-dawn when there were thunderstorms. This was not our forecast, and I'm happy for that!
- Lynn

thanks Molly!

Our vote here is a Downy woodpecker

Amy hope it's useful!

MollyD

This message was edited Apr 12, 2008 3:19 PM

Thanks guys! Yes, a bit muggy today. Sun in and out. About 72.

My vote is female hairy woodpecker( the male has a red patch on the head). Hairy is larger and has a longer bill and lacks the downy's black spots on the tail.

Hmmm.

Heard the same two possibilities on the Photos forum.

Blurrier, but does this help?

Downy. Looks way too small to be a Hairy (is that spelled right??)

MollyD

Hairy is larger also. When one pops on our feeder it reaches from top to bottom & has trouble getting seeds if the feeders not full.

Downy. It is smaller than what a Hairy would be.

Thanks!

Photos people think Hairy. This says they are 7-10 inches, which would be about right - closer to 7. Also the head and bill look longer.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Hairy_Woodpecker.html

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Downy_Woodpecker.html

Water is flowing!

It's a really cute woodpecker, whatever its name...

It's a Dairy woodpecker - when you can't tell the difference between a Downy and a Hairy. I didn't make that up, someone else did!! Eleanor

Cute! But I'm lactose intolerant...

I have something like that woodpecker. They always go backwards down the tree.

This is one of those Dairy woodpeckers!!! Eleanor
p.s. - I think it might be a Hairy cause it looks rather large on the suet feeder!

This message was edited Apr 12, 2008 7:21 PM

I love all the woodpeckers. They are amusing and colorful - especially the red-bellied, the pileated and even the flickers. I love how they use their tails to help hold themselves when visiting the feeders and the way their calls are so different from everything else. I'm sure a former neighbor would disagree because the birds used to peck away at the cedar shingles on her house. But I was amused.

Still clear skies and 71 here in Hopewell.

I wandered into this thread and now I need to know, Grammy or someone (?). Why are some people in green and some in blue? I too am trying to learn all the abbrvs.

MaypopLaurel

Boo, I'm learning so much here.

Snow!
We had snow here - luckily it was during the day so it melted with lighter clouds at times.

Laurel - it depends on whether you have clicked on their name or not - it's a cookie thing.

i want a cookie.

OK

Victor, congrats, how is the leak. We may have finally solved ours. I think we actually had two, one small backwash up at the spillway and another down at the bottom where the liner was folded too far under. Hope so. I took the bottom section apart today as I didn't like the shape. I will rework it tomorrow. I cleaned up all the beds around the stream and planted several types of trillium's, plus jack in the pulpit, bloodroot, crested small iris, Rattlesnake Plantain, Nodding Mandarin, Campanula Plum Wine, Euphorbia Orange Grove, Gentiana makinoi Royal Blue, Hakonechloa macra Albostriata, sanicula caerulescens, Sauromatum venosum, Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii, Acanthus spinosus, Ligularia przewalskii, and Rodgersia Chocolate Wings. I have ferns coming as well as a few other things.

Totally weird weather today. We had rolling thunderstorms moving through all day, but no real rain until after 3 o'clock. A bit of small hale at one point. The dogs were freaking out with the intermittent thunder and lighting. But the sun kept peeking out. Then a huge downpour. Sun tomorrow, I hope. I need to plant lilies and a few perennials. Patti

ooh. Peanut butter - one of my favourites!

We had thunder last night --the pointer barked, the dale spent the night in the closet. An unexpected 70 deg. day today--had all the windows opened, but now a cold front is blowing through--the wind is howling. I took my 3yr old GD for a walk yest. & ended up with a tick in my scalp--DH pulled it out with tweezers--now I have a huge itchy lump! Managed to take some photos before the rain beat down my plants--hopefully, they'll appear!

Here's a Pileated for you woodpecker lovers!!! Eleanor

Crocus--but don't know what kind. Nope--can't get the file to open--again!

Not sure yet, Patti. Was hoping to check the level this AM, but we had 1/2 inch of rain overnight. Lots of work for you again! I'm starting to see lots of things coming to life.

Thanks for the photo Eleanor, I'm a fan!

Sorry to hear about the tick ROBIN, be sure to keep an eye on it. Try some cortisone on the spot to help with the itching. I noticed the wind was really blowing here too, but the temp is still around 60. I'm hoping the rain holds off because we have to travel to Binghamton tomorrow.

Peanut butter cookies - YUM!!!

- Lynn

Lynn, so good to see you here, and there, in Orchids. As soon as they figure out how to central heat NE/New England, I'll be there. I said something mean about my region, but deleted it. Really, I love it here and the people (really), but after almost forty years sometimes the cultural chasm is a challenge. I've now deleted a mini-novel. Maybe I need to decide...wine/editorializing. Whoops, wine wins. What happens when you spend a night in the country without hot plans.

Laurel

It's raining here...yet again. But I guess that's why that old saying about April and May came into being. Victor that is a Downy. Probably an immature or female. They are almost as entertaining as Nuthatches, which I find the most comical of the backyard birds. Just not as brazen as our good old chickadee

Hairy woodpeckers are a lot more nosiy than Downy woodpeckers. They make their presence known at the feeders with very loud chirpping (or whatever you want to call it)!! Eleanor

I've had Juncos and Goldfinch the last few days. Good to be back to Spring.

Debi, aren't the Juncos so cute. There was a DG member who had a son that called them the oreo birds. I have called them that since reading that. They're migratory birds here, so I only see them in the spring and fall. I am still waiting on the goldfinches.

Laurel, I see your posts on orchids too. Some interesting things on some of the different threads. You can always Dmail me to compare notes about North/South. I lived in Nashville for 4 years about 30 years ago. The cultural differences were amazing! - Lynn