red-bellied

One of my feeders is caged to keep out squirrels, blue jays, cardinals, and other larger birds. But this red-bellied woodpecker has a long enough neck and beak, plus the willingness to contort himself as needed, to reach in and grab morsels multiple times each day.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) Male.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) male. He was drinking water from an old tree limb well.

Seemed pretty comfy with me in the woods. He sat in this tall stump for a few seconds to pose for the photo. However, the stump was at a weird angle, and I had to straighten it upright to make it worth looking at. Acrobats!

Lunch-time!

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) Female.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) Male.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) Male, species sexually dimorphic.

I have waited what feels like an *eternity* for Chucky the RBWO to bring his family to the feeders, and yesterday was my lucky day! This little fella was too scared to try out the feeders for himself, so he waited on the pecker tree for Daddy to bring him some breakfast... Orange suet!

Fall is upon us and all the families are finally bringing their kiddos to the feeder. I feel like good 'ol Chucky the RBWO waited much longer than most families, but he *finally* brought them!

Same woodpecker from the morning, the one who ate from my peanut butter cake. This time he graced me by showing me his red belly!

After eating from my homemade peanut butter cake (see my previous photo), he hitched down the tree and then started hitching up again, still with peanut butter on his bill. Sorry, I tried to post this immediately after my first photo, but my computer got clogged up, and I had to start over.

He's still a little shy, likes to hide behind the suet feeder while I'm watching him. I ran out of commercial suet cakes and had to make some peanut butter cakes from scratch yesterday: natural chunky peanut butter, corn meal, chopped peanuts, and crushed sunflower kernels.

Didn't observe any fighting between them, but both the Red-Bellied Woodpecker on the left and the Blue Jay on the right seem to be laying claims to their respective feeders. Or perhaps the Blue Jay wants to feed from the Red-Bellied's feeder. At any rate, I am SO relieved that there was not a...

From our snowfall this morning. Surprising that the Red-Bellied Woodpecker hiding behind the feeder was allowing the Blue Jay to perch so close. And the Blue Jay was giving me this funny face, as if to say, "Mind your own business!"

Another of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker from yesterday morning, the 22nd. I've always been fascinated by the way birds can turn their heads around 180 degrees!

Saw this guy while hiking at Punderson State Park, Ohio.

The snow stopped falling yesterday evening, but this morning everything was still frozen. I was out early hoping to get a shot of our resident female Pileated Woodpecker. No such luck, but I did see her flying across my yard. Instead, I got this Red-Bellied as a consolation prize.

A frequent visitor to my yard, and always welcome.

This is one of a series of shots I got of this male Red-Bellied Woodpecker on January 13th. After I uploaded it and studied the eye, I thought something was wrong. But I subsequently read that woodpeckers have a special membrane that closes over their eyes when they are pecking. This is to...

Captured this fellow, red cap shining in the sun, while he was tapping away looking for his meal.

January 17th was a glorious day. All of our snow had melted from the storm of January 6th, the sun was out, and the snowstorm of January 26th had not yet occurred. Somehow, the Mockers were letting other birds feed from their tree. In quick succession there were a Chickadee, a Wren, and a...

Was heartened to see this Red-Bellied Woodpecker on this second tree during the snowfall yesterday. I had been worried about his well-being since the altercation between him and the Mocker on the first tree (the Mockers' tree) a few days ago. One of the birds had pecked the other, causing...

Haven't yet figured out bird politics or why the Mockingbirds have not been as persistent in chasing other birds from the feeders recently, but I was delighted to see this Mockingbird allowing this Red-Bellied Woodpecker to eat. This, after months of the Mockingbirds hogging the feeder for...