Woodpecker Babes

Posted on by kritterspaw

I am always astounded by how big, and how quickly baby birds grow to be full size. I caught these baby acorn woodpeckers being fed by mom.

You can tell the baby by the black eye, while the parents have a yellow ring around their pupil. Both parents feed their young, normally 1 – 2 broods per year.

The red-headed acorn woodpecker eats nuts (acorns), seeds, and insects. They burrow in bark and trees to bury their food for later. It’s fascinating to watch the parent teaching the babies early on to squirrel away seeds to eat later.

Animal behavior is so interesting to watch if you just take the time to observe.

See more baby bird pix here .. https://kritterspaw.com/2023/07/15/bird-watching/

Birdlings

Posted on by kritterspaw

This year has been a huge learning year for me personally. I embarked on a self-challenge to capture better bird photos, and birds-in-flight, its own challenging category. It started with Whitewater Draw, south of Tucson, as I wanted to capture the sandhill cranes. You can see my posts from Whitewater Draw here… https://kritterspaw.com/2022/02/06/birds-a-feather/ and https://kritterspix.com/2022/02/06/whitewater-draw-workshop/, way back in late January.

It quickly morphed into osprey, hawk, and eagle.

So it’s only natural to expand to little birds to complete the education.

I guess you can say I’m branching out.

I guess you just have to take what you get and try to capture it the best way you can, whatever it may be. All education is good. One of the most important lessons I have learned has been preparedness. If I’m not prepared for that ‘moment’, no amount of knowledge, luck, or conditions will allow me to capitalize on my opportunity.