faerye OP ,
@faerye@pie.gd avatar

My mom has been back to visit the Hairy and his frazzled parents three times since I left. 6/12 and 6/14, the scamp was still demanding food. 6/15, our little beggar had flown!

In honor of this, I’m posting a photo of the little one from last week. Photo is from 6/10, 2 days after the one I’m replying to, but you can see some differences in plumage already.

Congratulations on fledging, little woodpecker! We love you.

A baby Hairy Woodpecker sticking his head out of a big nest hole in a knot on an aspen trunk. He looks a little scrubby and wide-eyed, but no longer quite as obviously dinosaurian and unfinished. His size is similar to that in the previous photo (perhaps three quarters his mom’s size) but his feathers are smoother, and some colors have come in more fully in the plumage. His red Mohawk no longer has a clumpy, spiny look like fresh hair plugs, but lies down nicely. Juveniles of both sexes can have this red crown, but the extensiveness of his stripe makes him almost certainly male! The black in front of his eyes is tipped with white. And below the eye, where wrinkles of black, seemingly featherless skin were gathered before, the white stripe has enlarged and filled in to make a fine white mustache. Under his chin, also, the feathers have filled in nicely. He also never used to stick his head out except when his mom or dad was there! Getting bolder, little guy!
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