Just who is the retarded one?

I'm not going to come right out and say we have a retarded woodpecker that visits our balcony because Jackie is thrilled whenever he comes calling. She says he follows a chickadee or a tufted titmouse to see what the big attraction is that lures them here.
I'll accept that explanation, but I can't help wonder about a bird that starts pecking away at the trunk of an artificial tree. Jackie rushes to his defensive, of course, by saying, "The trunk is real wood."
Okay, but why does he nose around bright red hummingbird feeders? The hummingbirds have headed wherever it is they head in mid September but the feeders remain in place because those chickadees and titmouses like them. It has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but I often wonder if one titmouse is here and another joins it, do they remain titmouses or become titmice? No one has ever given me a satisfactory answer.
Anyway, the little downy woodpecker hangs around as long as ten minutes at a time checking every inch of a wooden trellis and a weather beaten birdhouse with wood shingles for a roof. Other stuff like a metal pole, too.
So here is the big question: does this woodpecker give real meaning to the expression "bird brain" or does it actually apply to someone who spends twenty minutes writing about the subject?

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