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birdfotos.com
LIFE STARTS IN A BOOT
FOR SOME ARIZONA WOODPECKERS
One of the most common Woodpecker in Arizona is the Gila Woodpecker.
For those of you who are not familiar with the word Gila, it is pronounced (Heelaa)
Woodpeckers staring in this show are:
Ladder-backed
Acorn
Gila
Strickland's
Northern Flicker
Red-headed
Most of the images can be enlarged by clicking on them.
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When the Woodpeckers peck out a cavity in a cactus, it can not be used for the first year.
The cactus must heal it self in side by forming a membrane around the area that the
Woodpecker has cleaned out.
When this membrane hardens the nest cavity can be used.
The harden membrane now becomes the boot.
You won't be able to look into a cactus cavity nest area to know if it is being used
to raised young because of the angle of the opening. Plus it may be 20 to 30 feet
up the cactus. But a good way to determined if it is being used to raise young is
to watch the opening to see if mom or pop Woodpecker is bringing any food to the nest cavity.
In the next few images, which were, in part, produced by digital mechanical &
electronic reproduction, we can see the eggs ( not real eggs), and chicks
(not real live birds), in the nest cavity. The Gila Woodpecker at the nest cavity
entrance with food in its bill is the actual photograph.
The nest cavity, chicks, & egg(s) were artificially injected into the photograph by the means explained above.
First the nest cavity with 4 eggs in it.
Click on image to enlarge.
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Nest cavity with chicks & egg.
Click on image to enlarge.
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A little humor injected here before we go on.
Whoa, Stop, I say.
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From the out side it might look like this.
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Northern Flicker
OK, I've been caught, It's a Gilded Flicker.
If you had gone to the Flicker page you would have seen it there.
Its only taken one year for any one to figure this out, or,
for someone to view it and tell me about it.
Many thinks for an East coast birder's e-mail telling me its a Guided.
Photographed in the extreme south central Arizona desert.
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Acorn Woodpecker
There are many birds that use cavities to nest in, however I am only showing a few.
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Woodpeckers love both trees and power/telephone poles.
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While out photographing the birds, many times people will ask,
how do you tell the difference between the male & female
Acorn Woodpeckers?
They both look a like.
Yes they do look a like, all except for one place on the body.
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Check out the forehead.
The area just above the bill.
You also can look in most any bird field guide and get the same answer.
In the two photos below I will show the difference between the two.
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Note the white area between the top of the bill and the red cap on the Woodpeckers head.
On the bird on your right, there is a black band between the white area and the red cap.
On the other bird, on your left, there is no black band, the white runs directly into the red cap.
Which one do you think is the male Acorn Woodpecker, and which one is the female Acorn Woodpecker?
In order to find out if your choice is correct,
please click on the images to see which one is female,
& which one is the male Acorn Woodpecker.
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A few more Acorn Woodpecker images taken 10/19/05
You may contact me at birdfotos@aol.com