Friday, July 10

It was a cloudy, rainy day when I noticed this male Red-bellied Woodpecker on the right feeding the one on the left.

The feeding was always done behind the log, so I couldn’t photograph the actual feeding.

At first I thought it was a mating tradition, but our daughter Deb thought it might be a parent feeding a fledgling – and that makes a lot of sense to me because parent birds take care of their fledglings for a few days after they leave the nest.

The mourning dove on the ground ignored the feeding that was going on above it.

The young squirrels are invading our ground feeders, and we try to chase them away, but after a couple days of rain, I left them go. That way the seeds don’t get moldy or sprout during the heat of summer.

The pretty red-headed woodpecker was in the shadows of the tree, but it still looked pretty with it red, white and black colors.

We have a few bald (vulture looking) birds, so I googled the situation and learned that it is probably caused by mites. Mites eat feathers and the birds can eat them almost everywhere except the top of their heads.

Both of these are cardinals. The article said molting can also cause baldness, but if they are molting, other parts of their body are also bald.

I figure that theirs might be a mite problem.

This sparrow had plenty of feathers but he looked rather pathetic because he was so wet from the rain.

This rose-breasted grosbeak also appears to have a bald head issue.

I think he is looking for peanuts – but they are all gone. I have to get another bag to keep the blue jays happy.

The red-bellied woodpecker feeding team is back.

The birds have been a bit scarce lately – probably due to the heat. Also there is plenty of food at the neighbors farms. I can see at least five farm properties from our patio.