Smart Woodpecker

[Guest guest]

There is a woodpecker that likes to visit the birdfeeder here. It generally makes a mess and a lot of seed ends up on the ground, but that isn't too much of a worry since the ground feeding birds eat it.

What I have noticed is how the woodpecker feeds. It will collect seed in its beak and then fly over to a dogwood tree. This tree has some knotty sections, which is where the woodpecker lands. It will then put a few seeds in a crevasse or hole and then pack them open and eat the contents. The birds repeats this process until it is done and goes back to the feeder for more. Because the leaves are coming in on the tree, I can't be sure, but it looks like the woodpecker has learned to hold its lower body close to the tree and use the to hold the seeds until it is ready to break them open. That would make sense because it would then be able to easy swallow the good bit of the seed and not have other whole seeds in its mouth getting in the way.

Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less.

[Guest guest]

I once saw a documentary where some birds who lived in a busy city and ate

hard-shelled nuts, had learned to drop the nuts onto the road so cars would run

over them and crack the shells. When the traffic was stopped so pedestrians

could cross, the birds would fly down and pick the nuts up. They did this day

after day to get their food.

>

> There is a woodpecker that likes to visit the birdfeeder here. It

> generally makes a mess and a lot of seed ends up on the ground, but that isn't

too

> much of a worry since the ground feeding birds eat it.

>

> What I have noticed is how the woodpecker feeds. It will collect seed in

> its beak and then fly over to a dogwood tree. This tree has some knotty

> sections, which is where the woodpecker lands. It will then put a few seeds

in

> a crevasse or hole and then pack them open and eat the contents. The birds

> repeats this process until it is done and goes back to the feeder for

> more. Because the leaves are coming in on the tree, I can't be sure, but it

> looks like the woodpecker has learned to hold its lower body close to the tree

> and use the to hold the seeds until it is ready to break them open. That

> would make sense because it would then be able to easy swallow the good bit

> of the seed and not have other whole seeds in its mouth getting in the way.

>

>

> **************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10

> or less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)

>