I'd never heard of this but it's mentioned on Cornell's All About Birds website in the section on Food. "Downy Woodpeckers are common feeder birds, eating suet and black oil sunflower seeds and occasionally drinking from hummingbird feeders." I also found a nice reference: Birdlife: Woodpeckers stick out their tongues for nectar. "A woodpecker's unusually long tongue is mainly an adaptation to find and capture insects. After drilling a hole, a woodpecker sticks its tongue into the hole and explores for insects. The sticky barbed tip of the tongue helps capture and remove insects. Woodpeckers also explore cracks and crevices (and sometimes hummingbird feeders) with their sensitive tongues." I'd leave the feeders up until it gets really cold in case some late migrating hummers come through. The downies are probably enjoying a sweet snack in addition to their normal diet. Claire

I think if you hang them in strips, it may work! Sounds like a good idea.

I thought so too....but to me the lack of legbands would most definitely suggest a short study. However, there are more Hairy Woodpeckers in our region of the coast showing these bright yellow outer tail feathers. And that first photo was actually taken in Jan of 2009 not this year. Others near where I live as well as where he lives (we're about 15 miles apart), have seen and photographed these Hairy Woodpeckers with bright yellow outer tail feathers as well...over a course of about three years running now. So perhaps it's a plumage variant just now cropping up.

Since I retired I have taken up photography as a hobby and one of my prime interests is bird photography. In turn, I have joined a birdwatching club sponsored by the University of Massachusetts and through the club I have met a number of PHD level ornithologists. I had noticed a woodpecker that consistently was pecking on an aluminum light pole and I knew it could not be in the pursuit of bugs under the bark...LOL So I asked the experts and was I surprised at what I learned. During the mating season the young males demonstrate their prowese to the females by making the most noise when pecking and as is common with men everywhere...some of the male woodpeckers cheat, they have realized they make more noise and get more attention by pecking on aluminum light poles or aluminum siding than the can by pecking on a tree limb so while your trying to run the poor little guy off, keep in mind, your messing up his love life....LOL