Last autumn I had what I can only describe as a baby woodpecker or mini woodpecker, it would hang upside down on the peanut feeder and make the peck peck peck sound the woodpecker makes. However this bird was about the size of a starling, and was a pale brown, dark brown black and white, the colour on top of head was black. Does anyone know what kind of woodpecker this may be or if it is some other bird that behaves in a similar way?
I haven't been able to match its colouring by searching the web, the wing feathers were not speckled but more like the colouring of a sparrow.
It sounds like it may have been a young starling. The woodpeckers even as youngsters still have their colouring.
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Hi Jo2
Given the timing of this sighting i'd agree with Northernlass that it sounds like a starling. The plumage you describe sounds just like a bird moulting out of it's juvenile feathers, at this stage they have a mix of the juv' brown feathers and the glossy black with pale marks of their adult plumage. You see this transition plumage during the autumn months.
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I don't think it was a starling, starlings rarely travel alone and plumage was completely unlike a young starling or adult starling.
I will try and get a picture should I ever see it again and will post.
Thanks for trying.
All three species of Woodpecker are quite distinctive even as juveniles. http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/shared_documents/gbw/associated_files/bird-table-63-woodpecker-identification.pdf
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Jo, please do get a picture if you can and share as we are all curious now!
I've had a lone starling singing from a chimney pot every morning for the past two weeks, yes they are usually a flocking species but not exclusively.
We have 3 woodpecker species in the UK, the lesser spotted which is very scarce these days and seldom visits garden bird feeders, the green which also rarely visits bird feeders and is large and nothing like the described bird and finally the great-spotted woodpecker, our most common and likely to visit the garden bird feeders. These birds are basically pied in plumage but with red under the tail and the males have a red patch at the nape, juv's have a red crown.
None of our native woodpeckers fit your description i'm afraid. As I mentioned, the starling in transition plumage shares features from both juvenile plumage and the adult plumage but is often mistaken for a different species. I don't have a good picture at hand to show the difference, anyone else got some post-moult juvenile pictures to give a comparison?
Ian H said: None of our native woodpeckers fit your description i'm afraid. As I mentioned, the starling in transition plumage shares features from both juvenile plumage and the adult plumage but is often mistaken for a different species. I don't have a good picture at hand to show the difference, anyone else got some post-moult juvenile pictures to give a comparison?
Here's a juvenile transitioning to first-winter plumage, I'm sure others have better though:
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Thanks for adding the images, I think they illustrate the point nicely! Jo, how do these compare with your brown, black and white woodpecker like birds?
Hi Alan and Ian thanks for posting the starling pictures, it just confirms to me the bird I saw was not a starling. I will try and get picture for all to see if it returns. Of course it may not be a woodpecker either. I am hoping it does return and I can snap a picture for all to see.
I've had a group of starlings around for about a month now but none of them behaved like the bird I saw last August.
Thanks everyone for your replies.
lol Alan :)
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Hi Jo
If you are ruling starling out on behaviour then I would think again as they can hang upside down on a feeder to peck at the contents, they are very agile. Have you seen this bird since last autumn?
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x-posted, cheers Alan!