Happy New Year!!

I got this great shot of the male Red-Bellied Woodpecker this morning. I finally got him sitting just right to get the red streak on his belly. He was fighting again with the juvenile Red-Head Woodpecker!

I'll be posting some shots of the Red-Head later. He is definitely changing colors. I'm off to watch the Hogs. Go Razorbacks!

God Bless!

I Got The Reds for Christmas!

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!

Orange Sapsucker

This Red-Bellied Woodpecker has been frequenting my backyard lately. Besides the normal bevy of daily visits by the Cardinals, I've been carefully watching to see what other birds are visiting. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker really likes the suet block and has started coming to it often.

It's red belly, which it gets the name from, is rarely seen. It's back has a very noticeable upperparts with the black and white barring, like a zebra. So much so that is is sometimes called the Zebra Woodpecker.

The plumage of the sexes are very similar except the males have a complete red hood on their heads. The females, as noted in the pictures, only have red on the nape of their necks.

They are fairly large woodpeckers, 9-10 inches in length, with a 15-18 inch wingspan. They are nonmigratory, monogamous birds. They have 1 brood in the North and 2 - 3 broods in the South.

They got the name "orange sapsucker" from Dr. B.H Warren who called attention to their love of oranges in Florida in 1890. They would eat many oranges when they were ready to pick and destroyed many trees by boring into the tree and sucking the sap.