Why did the duck cross the road?

Just down the road from my house I had to hit the brakes as there was a hen and drake mallard sitting on the road.

Nearby was a mourning dove picking rocks

Back in my yard, a pair of downy woodpeckers were squabbling over the suet block.  The female would not let the male have his breakfast and kept chasing him off.

Downy Day

There were two pairs of downys raiding the feeders this morning.  I managed to catch two, then three, of the four in one frame.

The male was chasing the female around a maple tree.

  

 Three downys in one frame

Female downy, blinking. 

Male downy...

 sticking out his tongue!

And a Junco to boot!

A slip of the tongue

I caught this male Downy Woodpecker having breakfast...and he stuck his tongue out at me!

Up close and personal

The birds let me get really close today...4.9ft to be exact, the minimum focal distance on my 300mm lens. Chickadees I expect to be a bit brazen, but the red-breasted nuthatch was definitely being brave. The photos of the downy woodpecker are uncropped, he must have been very hungry to tolerate my proximity.

Near! Far!!

This morning a female Downy Woodpecker let me get as close as I could with my telephoto lens (5ft). This afternoon a Bald Eagle surveyed a marshy area in the seasonal drizzle (~1200ft).