The hummingbird feeder attracts other critters. I thought that it would only be hummingbirds because of how the thing is designed, but it hasn’t slowed down the squirrels, the house finches, the towhees, and the hooded orioles.
I had just gotten up and went to the kitchen sink and saw this at the feeder. That’s *NOT* a hummingbird. Slightly smaller than the hooded orioles, much larger than the house finches. Different tail than the squirrels.
Moving to where it’s not so backlit and fiddling with the cell phone photo settings (I figured that I had only seconds before it saw me and flew away) it was obvious that it was a downy woodpecker!
It did spot me, but didn’t immediately take off. I’ve seen downy woodpeckers around every now and then, but I’ve never seen it at the feeder.
It took its time and as you can see, it pretty much cleaned out the feeder. There’s another feeder around the corner that seems to be still left to just the hummers, so they’ll live until I can get this refilled.
As long as I can keep the squirrels away. The chunky monsters tear down the vines climbing up there, then they swing on the feeders until it breaks and falls so they can get at the food. Evil, furry, little bastards!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 