Woodpecker Design Examined

The woodpecker is a fantastic testament to the proof of an amazing Creator. This article I found, from the Institute for Creation Research, explains how...

"When boring into wood in search of food, a woodpecker exerts so much force with each strike that its beak should crumble, its skull should crack, and its brain should be reduced to mush. However, a suite of design features absorbs the shock and ensures that these tragedies do not happen. How are these features able to provide such effective protection?"

To read the rest of the article CLICK HERE.

Downy Woodpecker

Saturday, February 27th. 2010, my husband and I went on our first birding field trip with the Southwest Idaho Birders Association. We met at 8am at the Marsing Island Bridge. This was an all day trip to Malheur County, Oregon and the Owyhee River. I will be writing more on this trip, but for now I will just post a few of my favorite photos from the day.

Near the Owyhee Dam, a pair of Downy woodpeckers was spotted among the Mullein plants, near the water of the Owyhee reservoir. This was my first time seeing one of these beautiful little woodpeckers in the wild, and it was quite a thrill. I was able to get pretty close to the male to take these images. The female was a little more flighty and I only got her from further away.

These few images are of the male. The male has a red patch on the back of its head, as you can see in these photos. Enjoy...

To purchase fine art prints of these images, CLICK HERE!

To purchase folded greeting cards of these images, CLICK HERE!

Bottoms Up!

I just had to blog about our Northern Flickers that keep visiting our feeders. I've had so much fun watching them. They are so funny how they feed from the hoppers meant for the finches and sparrows. The hoppers are filled with a mix of seed and thistle that's tailored for birds in our area, along with black oil sunflower seeds. I hope you enjoy these humorous images...

It's so cute to see him flick his tail up on the other side to help him hold on and steady the feeder. This is now what we refer to as, "bottom's up!" We all know when someone says that in our house, that a flicker is at the feeder; of course, we usually know they're in the yard before that since they let us know vocally before going to the feeder.

I just love how the little bird is waiting in the wings for his turn.
**You can see more of my backyard birds by clicking on the title of this post.