Head banging rituals are bound to give anyone a headache. For woodpeckers, it’s an everyday part of life.
Though woodpeckers will drill for insects, their head banging (also known as drumming) is done to establish territory and communicate availability to potential mates during the spring season. The drumming sound is not uncommon in my neck of the woods here in Cow Bay. It’s especially loud if done on telephone poles.
This lovely female Downy Woodpecker has been a frequent visitor to my yard lately, with and without her mate, a similar bird but with a red dot on the back of his head. While I’ve noticed him eating sunflower seeds along with the chickadees, she’s quite attracted to the suet I have hanging from a tree branch. She clung on tightly to it yesterday, despite the wild wind gusts.
The ‘suet’ consists simply of bacon drippings that I poured into a container kept in my freezer until I had enough to place in a mesh bag.
After several failed attempts in recent weeks, I managed to finally take this photo from my kitchen window yesterday.
Flandrum Hill 
Hahaha! What a lovely story! I’ve never seen a woodpecker in real life. Amy-Lynn, you are so privileged to be living right in the middle of nature like this. Your blog is a veritable treasure trove of factual information, creative stories, useful hints, and gorgeous pictures. Well done for capturing that photo; I know how tricky it is to get a good photo of birds, because they move so fast!
Thank you so much Reggie 🙂 I did some investigating and found that you do have some woodpeckers in your neck of the woods in South Africa. However, they’re quite drab coloured and consequently much more difficult to spot.
when i lived in oregon i had a dying cherry tree that i was planning to cut down, but a pair of woodpeckers started showing up every year. so i left the tree alone.
they were a sight to behold. they’re one of those creatures that are a lot more striking and charismatic in real life than in pictures.
Wind, a nest of woodpeckers in the yard would be wonderful. They eat so many insects. The closest I’ve had is a nest of Flickers in a hollow tree.
The black and white feathers are indeed quite striking. However, recently I’ve noticed that this one seems to be getting a dirty chest from leaning up against the suet.
Hi Flandrumhill, I just now discovered your blog. This post is so sweet! I adore all woodpeckers and have blogged about the Downy Woodpecker just today. I have seven different kinds of woodpecker visiting my backyard on occasion with Downy, Pileated, Red-bellied, and Red-headed Woodpeckers being the most common. Have a wonderful day!
Thank you wildlifewatcher. Those downy woodpeckers are the sweetest of the bunch. I’ll try to check out your post if it’s still available.