Woodpecker

From the words of a kindergartner, with my questions edited out.

We have a woodpecker in our yard.  I know it's a woodpecker because it has a red spot on the back of it's head and stripes on the wings.  Most of it is black and white, but it has a little bit of red. It has a little beak, a beak is a bird mouth and it is hard.

I know about woodpeckers because I have my own stuffed woodpecker and the one in my yard looks the same.


From the middle-schooler.
Woodpeckers have spongy skulls around their brain to protect them from concussions.


From the adult:
The woodpecker we have hanging around is a male Downy Woodpecker.  He is right at home in the mixed flock of chickadees, robins, sparrows, and juncos that live in the backyard.  Aside from the robins they're all small birds, about six inches or less - approximately half the size of the stuffed one below. He eats mostly from the birch tree but also enjoys the suet block.