Hummingbird feeder vs. a Pileated Woodpecker?
A woman came in to the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory gift shop yesterday and purchased replacement yellow flowers for a hummingbird feeder like the one above. I commented how they sometimes get moldy no matter how regularly you clean them. She said, "No, that's not it. I have a Pileated Woodpecker that likes to cling to the feeder and peck the heck out of them!" That's one I hadn't heard before! I tried to find photos or videos of such a thing online, but no luck.
5 comments:
I can't say I've heard that before, but I'm guessing that the feeder is attracting ants(typical of hummingbird feeders) which are getting under the flowers to go for the sugar water, and the pileated is going after the ants.
I wish I could get Pileated Woodpeckers destroying my feeders!
Yeah... I second Christopher's comment!
It's very common for other birds, including woodpeckers of several species, to visit hummingbird feeders for the sugar (and the water as well in arid areas). Woodpeckers are just better equipped to get past the "defenses" of these Perky Pet models.
The mold issue is another reason I hate these feeders, but what really annoys me is the fact that they make the flowers and "bee guards" yellow, which is a popular color for bee-pollinated flowers. There's an in-depth post on this issue at my blog.
My friends that live in Arizona have had trouble with their woodpeckers perching on their
hummingbird
feeders and drinking out of them til they're almost dry. So, I guess it's more common than we think, ...
Hummzingers don't have those pesky yellow flowers. I have a Pileated at my suet feeder 10 feet away and he doesn't bother it either! I got mine at Amazon.
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