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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond
Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world. "The place to observe nature is where you are."—John Burroughs
This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond 
For a little bird, they sure pack a wallop!
We had a YBSS hanging out in a Black Walnut outside our apartment window for a few weeks in warm late December. Fun to watch him work the circle, boring a nice ring of holes about 25′ from us.
When jug feeders were used in Central Park a tube called a Noel guard and made from 1/2″ hog wire was mounted over the entrances to restrict the ize of the birds which could enter and get food. This proved no deterrence to a Red-bellied Woodpecker. He hung from the bottom of the tube so his bill was just inside the tube and reached in with his very long tongue to get some seed. I saw this several times and think it was always the same bird, but can’t attest to that now, some 8-10 years later, but it was memorable.
9CM is about 3-5/8″. That hole is large enough for a Northern Flicker, an Eastern Screeech Owl or a Wood Duck depending upon the cavity size. Quite a loss to those species!