During our last birding trip to Manning Park we saw several species of woodpeckers, including Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers and Sapsuckers, but it was the Three-toed Woodpecker that caught our attention. First we heard loud chirping (nestlings!) coming from a dead, broken off conifer tree near the parking lot at Lightning Lake. Then we spotted an adult coming in to feed them. There were several woodpecker holes in the tree, and the nest was in the lower hole. We watched for about half an hour as the woodpecker foraged and flew back and forth to the nest with food. Although we could see the yellow on the head clearly when he flew, we didn't manage to get a good shot that showed it. We will be going back this weekend, and hope to get better shots.
Three-toed Woodpecker feeding young in the lower nest hole. Manning Park, BC. If you enlarge the photo, you can catch a glimpse of the yellow on top of the head. Read about Three-toed Woodpeckers on whatbird.com.
2 comments:
What nice markings.
Do you camp in Manning?
Spiny, we weren't camping, just cruising the roads. We didn't realize Manning was known for this species.
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