Red Headed Woodpeckers Flying

It is Spring Break, and I'm looking out the window in the morning when I'd usually be at school. Across the street, I saw three red headed woodpeckers flying from one tree to the next. We've written about the pileated woodpeckers, that was our first one, and downy woodpeckers before. We frequently see downy woodpeckers in our neighborhood, but not too many other kinds.

We learned that they are very aggressive birds. They will steal eggs from other birds. They will destroy other birds' nests. They will attack birds to keep them away from their territory.

Red headed woodpeckers are the most omnivorous woodpeckers. Omnivorous means that they eat meat and plants. They will eat seeds, mice, bugs, baby birds, and bird eggs. They hide their food. They will often store grasshoppers ALIVE. They will put them in crevice, which is a small place, so small that they can't escape.

They like to live in dead or dying trees. They lay 4-7 eggs, and the eggs are white color. The female and the male both take turns sitting on them. After 14 days, they hatch. The chicks will leave the nest about 30 days after the eggs have hatched.
This is their call.

American Woodcocks

We went to a preserve with Junior Audubon Club to look for the American Woodcock. We wanted to see the American Woodcock doing its air and ground dance. The male does the dance to attract females. It was very freezing. The males don't care how cold it is, but they only do their dance almost at night. We saw the American Woodcock do its sky dance. It wasn't easy to see the whole time because it was dark and it flew very high. We got kind of close to it on the ground. We heard its "zzzzzt" call on the ground. It makes a fluttering sound when the air rushes through its wings after it takes off and it's flying. We learned that wolves, dogs, coyotes, hawks and owls will try to eat the eggs because the nest is on the ground, so a lot of animals can get to it. The color of the American Woodcock is a browny woody color because its nest is sometimes near trees and in the forest, and this color gives it camaflogue. You can't tell the difference between the male and the female.

We found more information at home. The American Woodcock is 11 inches in length and it has an 18 inch wingspan. Its beak is long for probing in soft (wet) dirt and eating insects. We could see its long bill. It eats earthworms, larvae, ants, slugs and snails.

The nest is simple. It is made of leaves. The female will sometimes line the rim of the nest with a few twigs. The female lays about four eggs at a time.

They arrive in Michigan in the spring. They stay in the summer and migrate to Tennessee, Arkansas, and the gulf states for the winter.

Here's a picture:These two sounds are exactly what we heard.

Dark-eyed Juncos

We see Dark-eyed Juncos on our bird feeder frequently. We know they're dark-eyed juncos because of their markings. I recognized them from my reading.

Dark-eyed juncos are a kind of little cute sparrow. The males are black with a pink bill and a white breast. The females are brown with an orangy brown wing. They eat grasshoppers, ants, beetles, catepillars, spiders and weed seeds. They are omnivores. The eat more insects in the warmer months.

They live in cold places. The males winter more north than the females. They live in coniferous forests and places.

The nest is in a small bush or tree. The nest is in the shape of a cup. The nest is lined with grasses and fur.

They lay about 3-4 eggs at a time. The female eats the egg shells after the chicks hatch to help her produce more eggs and to help her replace the calcium she used in making the 3 or 4 eggs.

The baby chicks poop in little sacks made of edible sugar. After they poop in it, the parents will eat it! Gross! They stop eating it when the babies start producing harmful bacteria. Then, the dark-eyed juncos just throw it out of the nest!

Here is the call.