I had a great day of birding which happened out of luck. I had to repair a flat on a tire and was outside on the driveway when a chatter arose above my head. It was a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker and the juvenile Red-Headed Woodpecker. They were not playing nice, to say the least. I was excited about this as I've never seen a male Red-Bellied in my yard, only the female. The juvenile Red-Head is also one of my favorites as I seen it grow up over the six months.
If you look closely, you can seen the Red-Head is beginning to lose it's juvenile plumage and starting to look more like an adult. Compare its plumage to one of these early posts which shows it distinct juvenile plumage.
This male probably has been around my yard but this is the first time I've ever seen it. With the little spat going on over the tree, he didn't realize I was even around, snapping these shots. In the first pic, I got a good shot of his belly, where the red is hidden and where he gets his name from. Look close, you can see the hint of red!
Merry Christmas and God Bless!
Posts
3 comments:
Merry Christmas! What a great birding gift out of a bit of bad luck with the tire.
Good birding to you and God Bless!
Thanks for the comment! It turned out to be a fun experience after all. Watching the two woodpeckers 'go at it' was interesting! The Red-Bellied must have won, we has working on his hole yesterday afternoon. My little Red-Head juvenile is a fighter, he'll be back!
Congratulations! The Red-headed would be the real prize around here. We very rarely get those in CT.
Post a Comment