Great Bird Feeder Action this morning and some Queries

[BeowulfIII]

Just wanted to pass on a couple of queries as to new birds arriving on the bird feeders today. I put up an additional feeder with peanuts in it (at 4quid for the whole package from homebase how couldn't you?) and had some new visitors which I am thrilled about.

I had a great spotted woodpecker earlier, it had a bright red dash on the back of its head, black cap and was mainly white on the breast/stomach though was facing the other way. Is this an adult male?

Underneath the feeder whilst he/she was there was another bird not much smaller than the woodpecker that I have never seen before, was picking up his scraps. Was brown allover with a brown longish beak and no obvious marking that I could make out through the bins. Wouldnt come into the tree and when it left flew low over the fence into surrounding cover. Dunnock maybe? Could it be the woodpecker's missus? I cant see a picture of a female gsw in my collins...

There is another recently common visitor which I cannot identify, small bird, about the size of a sparrow with a bright white stripe on its wing that is perpendicular to the ground. All else is brown or subtle shades of brown. House sparrow? something else?

Then, the two regular starlings arrived and one of them sat on a brach near the feeder for a little while opening and closing its beak loudly, panting almost, no song, never done that before, is that common behaviour?

Any help would be great?

Incidentally, the neighbourhood grey has arrived now and chased everything off.

[werdnal]

Not sure about your brown bird, but can shed some light on the Woody. The one you have with the red head is the male - if you have a look at the RSPB site Great spotted woodpecker - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
you can toggle between male and female. They are very similar except female doesn't have the head stripe.

We have a resident woody here, and in the spring he usually brings a youngster with him. They love peanuts, but you can make things even more interersting for them - take a small log or branch and drill some holes in its side, then force monkey nuts into it (or you can use lard in the winter mixed with seed/nuts). Hang up or fix against a tree. This is a bit more natural behaviour as they love to work into nooks and crannies in bark looking for food. Will keep him occupied longer than the feeder so you can get a good look.

One word of warning though, if you have bird boxes, it might be wise to reinforce the holes with metal plates as they peck them open to get at eggs and young inside.

[BeowulfIII]

Thanks for that Werdnal, the brown bird came back and its beak is not brown but a dull orange and its underparts are a darker colour, almost grey, quite large though and loves the undergrowth.

I hope the gsw comes back, they are great birds, if it does will definately set up the monkey nut log though suspect the squirrels will give it a hiding...

Also had first chaffinch this morning, unbeleivable, three new in one day.

Do you think the other one with the white stripe is a house sparrow?

[aeshna5]

The bird on the ground sounds a bit like a Dunnock in it's behaviour- they're about the size of a sparrow (used to be called Hedge Sparrow, but isn't a sparrow!) with a thinner bill.

Wonder if the bird with the white wing bar could be a female Chaffinch?