Our Feathered Friends

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tweet By  Ray Pope This past Saturday I did a little bird watching, but in a different way. There were several old warbirds that flew in at the Lebanon Airport. Most people have dreamed of being able to fly like a bird sometime in their life. I could write a book trying to explain the many times that I have tried to get airborne. Taking Mama's sheet and attaching a string at all four corners seemed to excite me until I jumped off the roof and busted my good intentions. My Father always had lumber stashed somewhere and of course I fixed a 1 inch X 12 inch X 8 foot piece to my old Schwinn bicycle and headed down the steepest hill. It’s a good thing that my Mother was always praying for my safety or you might not be reading this story now. Last week we were talking about our smallest Woodpecker, the Downy, so this week I'd like to introduce you to our next size up Woodpecker. The Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) is our medium sized Woodpecker and looks almost identical to the Downy in plumage. One way to quickly tell the difference is to look at their beaks. The Downy's beak is about half the size of his head where the Hairy's beak is as long as it's head. The outer tail feathers are solid white with the Hairy, and on the Downy there are black spots on the outer tail feathers. Female Hairy Woodpecker Male Hairy Woodpecker By  Ray Pope This past Saturday I did a little bird watching, but in a different way. There were several old warbirds that flew in at the Lebanon Airport. Most people have dreamed of being able to fly like a bird sometime in their life. I could write a book trying to explain the many times that I have tried to get airborne. Taking Mama's sheet and attaching a string at all four corners seemed to excite me until I jumped off the roof and busted my good intentions. My Father always had lumber stashed somewhere and of course I fixed a 1 inch X 12 inch X 8 foot piece to my old Schwinn bicycle and headed down the steepest hill. It’s a good thing that my Mother was always praying for my safety or you might not be reading this story now. Last week we were talking about our smallest Woodpecker, the Downy, so this week I'd like to introduce you to our next size up Woodpecker. The Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) is our medium sized Woodpecker and looks almost identical to the Downy in plumage. One way to quickly tell the difference is to look at their beaks. The Downy's beak is about half the size of his head where the Hairy's beak is as long as it's head. The outer tail feathers are solid white with the Hairy, and on the Downy there are black spots on the outer tail feathers. These two species are not closely related to each other. Hairy Woodpeckers are about 9 3/4 inches in length with a fifteen inch wingspan. Favorite haunts here in the eastern part of the country are mature deciduous forests over most of North America to the tree line. Out west you will find them in coniferous forests. Myself, I have only found them out in the country where there are large stands of trees and seldom find them inside the city. Adults are mostly black on the upper parts and wings with a white or pale back and white spotting on the wings. The throat and belly may vary from white to a sooty brown depending on which subspecies you are looking at. You will find a white stripe above and below the eyes and the tail is black except for the white outer tail feathers. Mr. Hairy wears a patch of red feathers on the back of his head. Most male Woodpeckers have an extra patch of red feathers which distinguish them from the females. After mating the female chips a nesting hole under a limb where there is more protection from rain. It’s almost like where we build a house and then put a porch over the door. Birds are much smarter than what we give them credit for. She will lay three to five white eggs and her mate will pitch in and help care for the young. Mated pairs will drum back and forth to maintain year round contact as during autumn each partner stakes out a separate territory. Hairy Woodpeckers are always on the guard to prevent destructive beetle grubs from destroying large tracts of forest. They drill small holes to get to the grubs and then use their tongues, which are barbed like a fish hook to pull the food out for consumption. I ran into Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Nolen at, of course, Peking Chinese Restaurant this past Sunday and he was concerned with not having Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at his feeders. About all I could tell him was there is a plethora of wild nectar producing flowers that would keep them going. If there were a shortage of blooming plants, I would expect everyone to be calling in with Hummer sightings. Some of you that have computers and are on the web can go to www.wilsonpost.com in the style section, where you will find my article from last week on the Downy Woodpeckers and find color pictures of the ones that ran with my article. I would love to hear from you as to what’s lurking about in your neighborhood and at your feeders. You can call me at 547-7371 or write me at 606 Fairview Ave., Lebanon, TN, 37087 or e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .