I just happened to be outside with my phone camera, and our little Downy Woodpecker came around to have some suet. She very clearly demonstrated how the birds have eaten away the tops of all the vertical boards in our back fence. Caught in the act!

Shortly thereafter, she came back to actually eat some suet from the feeders.

See how the tops of the fence boards are eaten away? All the woodpeckers do that, and the Northern Flickers do the worst damage since they are bigger.

Being smaller than the Flickers, the Downy doesn’t have to curl her tail around the cage feeder to sit comfortably. See the big hole in the suet cake? The flickers did that!

It’s so much fun to sit outside and see who comes to our feeders! Here are a couple of today’s other visitors.

The Red-breasted Nuthatch and Chestnut-backed Chickadee took turns at the suet.

Altogether, a fun afternoon with my favorite birds.