nice video catch!

All kidding aside, a fantastic look at nature's behavior. I'm impressed by both birds. The majesty of the owl and the bravery of the woodpecker.

Definitely not Tom Petty (won't back down)!

That Downy Woodpecker backed down!

I was backing up just looking at the GIF.

Only about 6 1/2" long. Most fence posts are about 3-4" in diameter so UI'd estimate that bird is about the size of a hairy woodpecker, which is about 9 1/4" long.

But I am confused - the bird in the gif shows red markings on the lower part of the belly. So far as I know neither Downy or Hairy woodpeckers have that marking.

Now, the owl is another thing - I think it might be a burrowing owl, partly because it is far too small to be a barred owl (which was my first thought): https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Burrowing_Owl/overview

Of course since we don't know where the video that this gif was made from was filmed, this could be a woodpecker of the non-American sort in which case the ID on both birds could be wrong!

Soooo, I pulled out my RSPB Guide to British Birds and found the Great Spotted Woodpecker. It is about nine inches long (slightly smaller than the Hairy) and has deep red "under tail coverts" as does the woodpecker in the gif. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/great-spotted-woodpecker/

That would make the owl a Little Owl (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/little-owl/) which are about the same size as the Great Spotted Woodpeckers and which are extremely similar to burrowing owls!

I think Russel Savory is the photographer. He's in England and says it's a Great Spotted.

Link to tweet

Next year we're going to the UK for three months. Our intention is to go birding, hiking, sightseeing and genealogy. We've been picking up bird and tourist books, mostly used, in preparation.

It's nice to see that study pay off!

It shows the woodpecker's belly.

I took a few hours out to work on stitching my adaptation of a Smilodon. The original image was a 2016 National Fossil Day poster (https://www.nps.gov/articles/fossils-of-the-2016-national-fossil-day-artwork.htm) but I am interpreting it as a needlework piece for my sister. She had a species of Smilodon named after her since she found the prototype fossil jaw that defined the species.

I also did their 2012 poster of a Mastodon - she's always been into elephants and now that she's into fossils she has lots of mastodon and mammoth examples. (https://www.nps.gov/articles/fossils-of-the-2012-national-fossil-day-artwork.htm)

Must be nice to have talent.


Also pretty nice to have an animal species named after you, esp. a smilodon.

Yes, I know a downy is smaller -- we had a pair doing their mating dance on our deck a couple of years ago, and we have had hairy woodpeckers in our back yard as well -- but I know some owls can be pretty small, and that one did remind me of a burrowing owl, so I didn't make much of the size comparison, but went with the spots on the outer tail feathers which suggested downy. Live and learn.

Which neither downy or hairy woodpeckers have.

Since we're going to the UK next year and planning some bird watching, we have a couple of bird books sitting around that we have collected for the trip. That's the only reason I could narrow the birds down. If they had been Asiatic species, I wouldn't have had a chance!

Great capture though.

Cute little guys!

Heh-heh, just kidding.

I'll back down, no problem.

See?

Ah, my new FB 'reply' photo to the contrarians!

I suppose that will make your next one a post, post post, post.

I believe Mr. Savory is the source.

Link to tweet

Thanks!

woodpecker!

That is one suave bird.

Little bird gotta back down Now!