Re: OT - Bird question
gardenchat@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: OT - Bird question
  • From: T* G* <t*@gmail.com>
  • Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:32:35 -0800
Hi there-
When I lived in Western New York, north of Buffalo, we had a several
ladderback woodpeckers come every couple of years.  So, I think it is
totally reasonable for one to be on the opposite end of the state as well.
Bet you are right and that it is a ladderback.

Theresa

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 10:44 AM, <Aplfgcnys@aol.com> wrote:

> The last time I had a bird question I went to a Birding list and was
> given a rather off-putting response  - why didn't I look it up in a good
> birding guide?  Since I have practically every birding guide in print (and
> some old ones that are no longer in print) and had exhausted my
> references, I felt that was a bit unhelpful.  So I am asking my good
> friends, in the hopes that one or more of you will have a thought in
> the matter.
> We regularly have three kinds of woodpeckers at the feeders - Downys,
> Red-Bellies, and Hairys. These come in large numbers.  It is not
> uncommon to see five Downys taking turns, or being defensive of, the
> suet cake. They also eat sunflower hearts from the tube feeder, but that
> is not their primary focus.  Several times this fall I have noticed a bird
> at the tube feeder that at first glance seemed to be a female Downy, but on
> further observation didn't fit.  This bird is the size of a Downy and has
> black-and-white markings on the back and head, but a definitely reddish-
> brown chest.  Downys have white chests.  My research in the birding
> guides at first didn't produce much, but the very excellent Sibley Guide
> to Birds has a picture of a Ladder-backed Woodpecker that seems to
> fill the bill (no pun intended). I hadn't seen the bird for several daya,
> but she
> was back today, and with my binocs I could even see the tuft of brownish
> feathers at the base of the beak.  The problem with this identification is
> that Ladderbacked Woodpeckers are native to the Southwestern deserts.
> What would one be doing in the Hudson Valley of New York?
> Auralie
>
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