A young Downy Woodpecker showed up, all by his lonesome, the other day. He was without any parental supervision and was investigating the backyard food offerings. He has officially reached the age of exploration where he is allowed to venture out on his own!
You can tell this fella is young because his red head feathers (the gals are without any red) are on the top of his crown instead of at the base of his neck, where they will be when he matures.
You can also tell he is a youngster by his mannerisms. He is still not quite as coordinated as he will be when he gets a little older. This little guy flew over to investigate the peanut platform…
…but when he tried to launch over to grab some grub…
…he misjudged the landing and had to climb up the pole to reach the platform.
He stayed there and nibbled a bit…
… but was smart enough to vacate when a much bigger Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up on the scene.
Young birds, young deer, young kids…they’re all fun to watch!
Backyard Bird Nerd 
That’s a great photo of him misjudging the landing of the peanut platform. I love being able to see the detail underneath his wings with I’m guessing butt bark on his beak. How do you keep ants out of the feed or are there ants and I just can’t see them?
Great times exploring for this fellow!
Yep…that’s Bark Butter on his beak. And the birds (and squirrels!) just eat it faster than the ants!
He’s probably reminiscing about the good ole days when mom or dad fed him regular meals.
Yep! (I do that sometimes too!!)
…this was a pure delight to see and read, thank you! We have a neighbour who recently had a nest of Great Horned Owls in her pine tree, with three down-coated babies, who have now been launched out on their own by their stern-looking parents. I almost shudder over imagining what each of them has to now do all by themselves–grab a mole? find a field mouse? Hopefully their parents will still be willing to provide a morsel or two yet.
Oh! How I would love to have a photo session with those little baby owls! Especially on their first hunt!