This male Downy dropped in for a visit yesterday.  Common throughout much of North America, I have found these bold little birds to be quite curious.  They rarely seem disturbed by my presence, and I never get tired of watching them.

If other birds were going to tease and taunt this woodpecker (you know how birds can be) they might call him “feather face.”  If you look, you’ll see that he has a patch of poofy feathers right at the base of his beak.  These are actually there to help keep woodchips out of his nostrils when he is drilling and pecking away at trees.  Pretty cool, eh?