[TN-Bird] Re: ? odd behaviour

Hey Ralph and Kay Brinkhurst,
     At one time or another I have had about every other kind of woodpecker 
at my feeders, why not Red-headed (you lucky devils!).  Mostly, the Downies 
and the Red-bellied Woodpeckers seem to be the ones that have learned to 
regularly negotiate my feeders, both hopper and tube style.  Usually they are 
using black oil sunflower or shelled sunflower kernels.  I haven't seen them 
use niger.  A real favorite of woodpeckers, and almost everything else, is 
black walnuts.  I have seen Downy Woodpeckers standing in the driveway 
pecking away at a cracked black walnut shell.  They look really funny 
standing on the ground, like they are about to overbalance and fall on their 
face.  
     My mother puts out the black walnut 'leavings', leftover shells with 
bits of nutmeat left inside; and 'tailings', fine debris containing nutmeat 
meal and shell dust sifted from the harvest.    If you don't want to eat the 
black walnuts yourself, you can just smash them with a hammer and put them 
out, the birds will pick put the goodies.  Of course, squirrels love them 
too.  If you collect black walnuts to use, be sure to store the whole nuts 
where the squirrels can't get them.  Even if you don't mind feeding them, the 
varmints will plant most of them in your flower beds and garden, and walnut 
roots are too stout to remove easily.
     It was a picture of a Red-headed Woodpecker on one of those old Baking 
Soda cards that first inspired me to look at birds when I was a little kid.  
I envy you your yard bird!

Don Holt
Johnson City, TN
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