Old Dog – New Trick

I read something about woodpeckers the other day that put me and my many years of birdwatching to shame.

Woodpeckers never hang upside-down from a tree or telephone pole or birdfeeder because they can ONLY CLIMB. In my mind I’ve always lumped together the behavior of nuthatches and woodpeckers.

Nuthatches (like this Red-breasted Nuthatch) can do this:

But woodpeckers are always upright when they’re on birdfeeders or hopping around on tree trunks and branches (like this Downy Woodpecker):

And yet if you’d asked me a few weeks ago whether woodpeckers hang upside-down from feeders or trees, I would’ve said yes.

Mind blown.