Stained Hairy Woodpecker
Stained feathers or aberrant plumage? That’s the question I was trying to answer when I sent this image to an ornithologist last April. The oddly colored male Hairy Woodpecker showed up at my feeder and remained in the area for about three weeks. I was told that the bird’s feathers were stained by tannins in trees. I thought nothing more about it until I saw a photo of a very similar looking bird spotted in New England. Bird specialists there said the odd coloration in that woodpecker came from pigments laid down in the feathers, and not from staining. (This color variation is apparently found in Hairy Woodpeckers in other parts of the U.S.) Whatever the case, the buffy colored male didn’t seem to bother the pair of Hairy Woodpeckers already visiting my yard and feeder.
Stained Hairy Woodpecker
Stained feathers or aberrant plumage? That’s the question I was trying to answer when I sent this image to an ornithologist last April. The oddly colored male Hairy Woodpecker showed up at my feeder and remained in the area for about three weeks. I was told that the bird’s feathers were stained by tannins in trees. I thought nothing more about it until I saw a photo of a very similar looking bird spotted in New England. Bird specialists there said the odd coloration in that woodpecker came from pigments laid down in the feathers, and not from staining. (This color variation is apparently found in Hairy Woodpeckers in other parts of the U.S.) Whatever the case, the buffy colored male didn’t seem to bother the pair of Hairy Woodpeckers already visiting my yard and feeder.