And the story goes ...

14 May 2007: Downy woodpeckers were nesting in a dead tree trunk in Timberline Campground in Waukee, Iowa. I watched the male parent carve out this nesting hole. Once it was finished, the female parent started visiting it. I photographed this exchange of parenting duties. The female has come back from feeding to relieve the male from nesting duty. Unfortunately, we left before I could see the baby downies.

Click on the image to view more images of backyard birds in our online gallery hosted by Smugmug.