A visitor said if you look at a great spotted woodpecker long enough, something strange or funny will happen. Well, it happened recently.
Our feeders are set up around a cut-down tree with long and short branches. It's set up at an angle with both the long and short branches acting as feeder supports.
A male great spottie had just finished feeding from the peanut cage and went for a bill cleaning session to a top branch. A female great spottie, which had been waiting in a nearby tree, flew towards the feeders and landed on a lower branch.
It then flew up to the top branch and then the male flew down to the lower branch. The male flew up and the female flew down. And again and again.
Well, it's too early for a courtship routine so it must have been this year's young having some playful fun. It's nature's playtime.
Eventually they both flew off.