Nestling Lewis's Woodpecker peaking from nest hole

I took this photo in Western Fremont County 2 weeks ago. Though not the crispist picture (hey, the nest hole is about 20 feet above the ground and, of course, in a shady area), but it clear enough to get a view of what nestlings of this species look like. The nest hole was in an area where the bark was stripped off but adjacent to the edge of the bark which is seen right at the tip of the birds bill. This baby bird appears all black with a little whitish in the head and neck plumage. It's bill is a dusky black.

A parent bird had just been at the nest hole feeding the nestlings and they were still calling-begging for more food when I saw this one stick it's head out of the nesthole. It is reported in Birds of North America that, "Young visible in nest entrance when fed during late nesting stage, 3–4 d before leaving nest." So it is likely that this young bird was close to fledgling.

Indeed, when I returned to the area last week, the birds had fledged from the nest. I found one foraging several hundred feet from the nest tree.

As I imagine I have mentioned before, this species is on the National Audubon Society Watchlist due to a loss of suitable trees to nest in and possibly due to poisoning from pesticides on fruit and corn they eat (more reasons to reduce use of pesticides!).

SeEtta