The last two days have been really good days for seeing birds. Both days I’ve seen a couple of the little downy woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens) bopping around in the trees. They are considerably smaller than the other woodpeckers, and although they still eat insects and spiders, they hunt them slightly differently than the red bellied and pileated woodpeckers. Instead of banging their heads (bills) repeatedly into the tree and slowly chiseling away the bark and pulp, they tend to search holes, crevices, twig ends, and other easier places to get into. They still do some pecking, but much less and much less forceful than the bigger birds. That means that instead of staying and working on one spot for a while, they tend to hop around from place to place. All that activity, their small size, and their soft eyes all add up to make a really adorable bird.