新媒网 · 跨境数据社区

I opened my email this morning and found this gorgeous photo of a male Red-bellied Woodpecker waiting for me! The photo was taken and shared by our friend Neale. Neale always takes such amazing bird photos! If you feed birds, you probably have Red-bellied Woodpeckers coming to your feeders, but did you know that as recently as the 1940’s and 50’s, this bird would have been a rarity here in Massachusetts? More moderate winters and an increase in bird feeding are believed responsible for the northern expansion of the range of several bird species including the Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and Tufted Titmouse – all now common at our feeders! In the wild, Red-bellied Woodpeckers eat a varied diet of insects, seeds, nuts, and fruits. This varied diet makes it easy to attract them to our feeders where they will eat sunflower seeds and chips (shell-free sunflower seeds), peanuts and other nuts, and suet (especially if it contains fruit or insects). They will also sometimes drink nectar from hummingbird and oriole feeders, and eat oranges put out for orioles. The bird in Neale’s photo was flying in to sample the WBU No Mess Blend of bird food he has in his feeder. This is a mix of sunflower chips, peanuts and millet – yum, that’s some good stuff! The feeder is our Quick-Clean XL Seed Tube Feeder which is great for busy feeders because it holds up to 3.5 quarts of food! This large-capacity feeder allows you to spend less time filling the feeder and more time sitting and watching the birds!