Hi there,I recently have been hearing a lot of the green woodpeckers in my area, they fly over the garden and scream all the time but I can't seem to entice them down to feed.So far I have only got to see a female on the lawn, we locked eyes and she scarpered very quickly, the only photographic evidence of their existence I have is this terrible image of her in thebackground of a trail camera video:
I've tried sprinkling seed on the floor, live morio worms in a dish on the floor (which get gobbled up by nuthatches and jays) and crushed suet balls.I really like them and personally reckon theyre a bit cooler than the Great Spots, maybe because I'm used to seeing them almost everyday, so I'd love to see more of them.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance, Jake
www.rspb.org.uk/.../ Green Woodpeckers food is ants, ants, and more ants. They use their strong beak to dig into ant colonies and eat the inhabitants, as explained in this link. Much different to the Great Spotted Woodpecker that comes and feeds on bird feeders.
Regards,
Ian.
While a feeding station isn't a natural place for a woodpecker to feed, once it has found the confidence to do so, it could easily visit the feeding station. We have a greater spotted woodpecker that regularly feeds from the fat balls and sometimes the sunflower seeds.
See the link below to watch a short click from a Trailcam of a woodpecker on the fat balls, hammering its beak like it would into a tree, but into the fat balls.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peak-rambler/51300193578/in/album-72157719483863918/
Mike
Flickr Peak Rambler
I probably only see Green Woodpeckers 2 or 3 times a year in my garden, but every time it seems to be when the lawn has gone bone dry and hard after a week in the hot sun, and then we get a heavy rain, softening it all up. Then they come along pecking at the ground to get the ants or whatever out. Maybe you could try a sprinkler on the lawn, I don't know if that will help
In reply to Dave - CH:
Sounds good to me, I actually had a GSWP come down this morning to check out why everyone else was spalshing about in between two logs, wasn't sure and didn't end up taking a dip, but still cool. Also got my second video of a black cap having a bath too.
In between those logs is the return for the pump, I covered the liner in gravel which leaves about 2cm of water for the birds to splash about in, which they love to, and keeps the pond from stagnating.
What also surprised me is how mean male blackbirds are to eachother, yet so peaceful with other species, I've got a trail camera video of the blackbirds trying to take eachothers heads off whilst a robin and blue tit are bathing, then one of them flies back and starts bathing with them, strange.