What's on the back of this Downy? by guitarman4

Dennis Davenport, known as guitarman4 on Flickr, added some fascinating photos of a Downy Woodpecker to the Burdr Flickr group this week. The bird appears to have some sort of frog riding on its back!

The photo was taken in December at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge which is located in the southwestern part of Washington state. Flickr users have been trying to figure out what’s on the bird’s back in the photo’s comments. Stephen Parsons, known as Wandering Sagebrush on Flickr, believes its a tiny Pacific Tree Frog. This would make sense. This particular frog is small enough and found in that part of the United States.

When seeing these photos, I can’t help but wonder if the little Downy Woodpecker is okay. Dennis says:

It’s possible he is okay because he was jumping from weed to weed and weed to tree trunk with no trouble, and his head was jack-hammering like crazy to get what he wanted from the weeds.

This is a first for me! So I did quite a few searches on the internet trying to get more information on this behavior, but I found nothing.

Has anyone else seen anything this or have more information?

Close Up Of Questioble Rider by guitarman4