Most of the fields in my survey area have been cut and plowed (which has really wrecked my bathroom plans). At one spot a female downy woodpecker has been systematically work the corn stubble.
She must have been getting something out of there, she worked the stubble piece by piece the two days I was there. She wouldn’t stay if she wasn’t getting a good food benefit from it. She would peck open the cracks to make them larger and stick her tongue inside.
Here’s a shot where you can get an idea of how long a woodpecker’s tongue is (for more on woodpecker tongues click here). She actually had it wedged in the stalk but only for a few seconds. And then she continued on to the next stalk.
It was interesting to see a bird finding benefit in the stubble. I also wonder if there was some bug that moved in to the stalk after harvest or if there was some bug in there and the farmer had a low yield to his crop.
There is the European Corn Borer, which tunnels into corn stalks and overwinters as a larva. I doubt it’s the only invertebrate living in cornstalks, though.
That’s a nice shot of the woodpecker’s tongue.
Interesting to see that Downy foraging in corn stubble. Have never seen that before!
Hey John, thanks for the note about the corn borer–I bet that was it! Thanks!!