Sara Jane and I were amused this morning by the actions of two young
downy woodpeckers being fed by the mother at our shell peanut feeder.
They were obviously trying to get the hang of foraging for food. They
would peck randomly on whatever they could find, including the top of
our platform feeder and even a metal post. While the mother was
extracting bits of peanut seed from the feeder, one of the young landed
next to her and gave it a go at pecking on the peanut shells, but with
little success. I can imagine it thinking, "How am I suppose to do
this. I can't seem to make it work. You make it look so easy!" Unlike
us humans who might become impatient with of our young for not getting
it right, the mother downy just kept pecking away and feeding the
young. She knows that "leading by example" is the best teaching method,
and the young birds would very soon be able to forage on their own.
Larry
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W. Larry Hymes
120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
(H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu
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