The clowns of the forest, nuthatches and woodpeckers always make my day! The woodpeckers have three fledglings at the moment (June 2005), and the nuthatches have a nest somewhere close by too.

To determine woodpecker sexes, just take a look at the head - the male has a red spot in the neck, while the female has only very few small red marks if any at all. The young ones, apart from being fluffy and overall very cute, have a big red spot on the forehead. A pretty neat system to keep them apart, isn't it? Woodpeckers are very immature when they hatch, they are naked and blind. They are fed almost anything, mostly insects and their larvae at first, but then also seeds and fruit, whatever is available. Our woodpeckers show a strong preference for the wild strawberries in our garden. :-) The fledglings here already peck at everything they find.

Woodpeckers can be quite aggressive, this pair regularily drives off the much larger jays with much hissing and pecking. But the female here is very affectionate towards her young and calls them with a voice much like a purr.

Nuthatches are not that easy to distinguish - both sexes look the same, and the young ones are slightly paler than the adults. Their german name "Kleiber" stems from their interesting nesting behaviour: If the entrance to their cave is too big, they use clay to adjust it so that only they fit through. As many bids are, these too are pretty secretive: I often saw the birds distribute the poo of their young in the garden to fool potential predators.