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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Tuesday's Truths (WK 70) are from The Spruce: "Fun Facts About Woodpeckers — Bird Trivia"

DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

As I write this blog post for Tuesday, it's Sunday, and the temperature outside is six degrees, but it's going up to nineteen degrees, which will be up seven degrees from Saturday.

The bitter cold temperatures that we've had for a quite a number of days in a row, here in NYC, has caused the snow on the surface of my rooftop garden to freeze, which will make it difficult for me to gain access to my wreath-style bird feeder in order to replenish it with peanuts. And, as you can see from the images atop this entry, where a lone downy woodpecker is dining from it, I need to refill the wreath because my supply of peanuts has dwindled.

This is because, over the past few days, and especially during our recent "bomb cyclone," quite an array of wild birds, including a family of blue jays,

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

a couple of cardinals,

FEMALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IB MY BOOKS

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IB MY BOOKS

a lone male house finch,

The focus of this photo is a male House finch who is perched on the left side of a bird feeder which is made of coils and shaped like a wreath and has the function of “holding” peanuts within a shell. He appears to be looking into the camera. This “scene” occurred on a snowy day (but it is only falling lightly) in my garden, which is the setting for my book series, “Words In Our Beak.” Info re these books is included in another post within this blog @ https://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2018/10/one-sheet-book-series-info.html
HOUSE FINCHES HAVE A STORY IN VOL 1

and a lone house sparrow,

HOUSE SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IB MY BOOKS

have been eating peanuts from this feeder. And as I stated at the onset of  this entry, yesterday, a lone woodpecker stopped by to dine there, as seen in the four photographs atop this entry.

I hadn't seen a woodpecker in my place for several weeks, but he/she seemed to feel right at home at my wreath-style feeder, and at one of my suet baskets; as evidenced in the next set of pictures.

DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

And this brings me to my Tuesday's Truths from The Spruce (as mentioned in this blog post's title). Within one of thespruce.com's web-pages, I found some "fun facts"about woodpeckers, which include the following:

"The downy woodpecker is the most common backyard woodpecker in North America, and is one of only about two dozen woodpecker species found in the United States. These small woodpeckers with their stubby bills often visit suet feeders (as evidenced in my photos) or will take black oil sunflower seeds or peanut chunks from other feeders." (This also evidenced in my images.)

"A woodpecker's tongue is up to 4 inches long depending on the species, and it wraps around the skull when it is retracted. Many woodpeckers have barbed tongues that help them extract bugs from trees and holes."

"Most woodpeckers have zygodactyl feet, which means they have two toes facing the front and two toes facing the back to help them strongly grip trees and poles vertically. They use those toes with their stiff tail feathers to brace on trees as they climb. Many woodpeckers also have longer, thicker talons than other birds, which helps them have an exceptional grip."

The page I've been quoting here has many other interesting things to say regarding woodpeckers, and if you are interested, I encourage you to check it out, by clicking on the link I provided (in the paragraph above these quotes).

That's it for today, dear reader, I've got to tend to navigating the snow and refill my wreath-style feeder and to make sure my suet-baskets are filled.

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