Birds: Woodpeckers & Nuthatches

(1 image in a note above) About 30 pictures back in this 366 project, I posted an image of a Northern Flicker that was sitting on a branch near our bird feeders. Here is a much closer view of this lovely bird which I took a couple of years ago. They are so stunning, aren't they? Very large too, they measure between 11-14" in length! What I didn't know is how common these birds are. They are found all over the United States and as such, they have over 100 common names! From Wiki: Among them are: yellowhammer (as it's known as the state bird of Alabama, not to be confused with the Eurasian yellowhammer), clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. WOW! You can find out more about these awesome birds here: Wiki: Northern Flicker

This morning I walked down to the mailbox and naturally I brought my camera along. I was enjoying the sound of birds in the trees when I saw a flash of white and looked to see a female Downy Woodpecker fly from one tree to one quite nearby. I started taking pictures and to my surprise, this cool little lady wasn't very timid and allowed me to get close enough to take a bunch of nice pictures! I will never cease to be amazed that I can take nice non-macro pictures with my macro lens!! I feel incredibly lucky today that I got this picture to share with you all! When I started working on this picture, I thought it would need a texture, but when I was done with it, my husband pointed out that it looked just fine without the texture and at most, might benefit by having a light vignette. I tried it and agreed! However, I have the picture below for you to see! You will also notice that in this final version, I removed a few more sticks to make a cleaner outline.) Downy Woodpeckers are the smallest woodpecker in North America! They can be found in almost every state, but we only started seeing them around here a couple of years ago. Last year we saw a bunch of them and we think there were probably two pairs nesting and coming to our feeders to fill up on suet. I started seeing them this year about a week ago and I really hoped to take pictures of one in a tree, though I didn't actually think it would happen. Hooray for great surprises!! :D (If you'd like to know more about these adorable birds, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wikipedia: Downy Woodpecker ) Coleman Cox (1889 - 1967) was a writer from the 1920's who wrote short books of great quotations, usually directed toward sales. Employers were his biggest audience, often buying the books to give to their employees as gifts. Coleman Cox Bio Explored on Flickr on February 26, 2013. Highest position: #332.

This is another version of the Downy Woodpecker I chose for my 365 project, and I originally used a texture to give it more interest. My husband pointed out that it was very special to get this picture and I didn't need to add anything but maybe a vignette! After I tried it, I agreed. I think this is nice, but it is nicer to see it with a natural background. What do you think? Thanks to Nasos3 for the texture! :)

...You're the most spastic of them all! :D Hey, I'm only speaking the truth! Have you ever seen a nuthatch when it's landed? These cute little devils run all over the place! Up and down trees, branches, walls, birdhouses, and when they get a seed, ZOOM!!! Off they go like a shot! Unless they decide to chow down on seeds at the feeder, it's next to impossible to get a picture that isn't just an empty bird feeder! ("I SWEAR there was a nuthatch there!!" "Yes dear, I believe you. Really. I do." :D) Steve and I call Nuthatches "Hut-Hut" birds...now stop looking at me like that! :D I'll explain! Have you seen "The Blues Brothers"? At the end, there's a SWAT team that invades the building that Jake and Elroy have entered, and at one point, there are a bunch of SWAT guys who rapel down the side of the building and they're all yelling "HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT!" (You can see the scene here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2quc-iQ96R0 and look at the time between :23 - :32 to see the SWAT Nuthatches saying HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT!!! :D :D :D) The first time we saw a nuthatch, both of us started yelling their proper name together! :D Now, the next time YOU see a nuthatch, you can enliven the experience by yelling "HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT!!! as they run around like the spastic SWAT birds that they are! :D

Winner of FlickrDuel contest: Versus Fauna This is a pair of Acorn Woodpeckers photographed from my kitchen window on Sunday, August 14, 2011.