I photographed this juvenile Ladder-backed Woodpecker during my last outing to the Pedernales Falls State Park bird blind. I noticed that its mother (hanging upside-down in the background) kept coming to the suet feeder, gathering food, and then heading back to the tree to feed her still-developing offspring. Sometimes the juvenile would come down and get some on his own but for the most part, he was happy being fed by his mom.

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II Lens set on 400mm. The camera was set on Aperture priority mode with the aperture set at f/6.3, shutter speed at 1/320th of a second and the ISO set at 400. This is a single photograph processed in Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro.
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Behavior similar to human juveniles!
Absolutely Duncan! I was thinking the same thing.
I like this, nicely done. Good story as well.
Thanks Rick!
Nice. Fluffy fella. Not nearly the vagrant hobo woodpecker you clicked in Big Bend earlier this year.
Thanks Lucas. You are right, he was well behaved, although a bit spoiled!