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