I walked out of the front door yesterday morning and immediately came across a young Red-bellied Woodpecker sitting in the driveway. As I approached, it staggered away onto the lawn. "Oh, no, " I thought. "One of the cats has gotten to it and now it can't fly."
However, with much wing flapping, it managed to make its way into the flower bed around our elm tree.
Then, to my surprise, it hopped fairly nimbly up the tree trunk and vanished among the branches. So perhaps it wasn't injured after all. Maybe it just hadn't really learned how to fly yet.
It's the first young Red-bellied that we've had in our yards this year and, judging by the color on its head, it's probably a young female. All being well, she'll grow up fit and strong, and she'll become a regular visitor to our yards.
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I've had a near miss with one of my cats and a young Blue Tit. Glad to hear your Woodpecker was okay after all!
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Unfortunately, one of our Blue Jays has what looks like a broken wing and can't fly. He manages to hop up quite high into shrubs but I don't know how long he'll survive.
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