yellow-bellied sapsucker

Thanks for your kind words on my pictures

Couldn't decide what photo was best so I picked these two.

I don't get to see these often and I'm so happy when I do. They make beautiful sounds and a course so pretty to look at.

I guess she likes "frozen sap".

Was a cold early morning when I spotted this Yellow bellied Sapsucker

Lucky find in a small Havana park

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Female. 1st yr bird.

Adult Male

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Another sunset image. This one is a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Normally I don't see these guys til mid November. Saw it this a.m. but I didn't see it for the rest of the day and I was watching. So I'm thinking this was just a pass through on it's migration.

A juvenile bird that has found it's way to the Southern Sierra mountains of California. This a rare sighting in this area, as this bird is more commonly found in the mid-west to the East coast, and up into Canada.

Can't tell if it is a male or female though at this stage

And here's the female, to go with yesterday's male.

How about that! I was planning to post this today, and have just seen KC's!!

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Female, species sexually dimorphic. Quinta Mazatlan, Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA. Tamaulipan scrub with a couple of small water features at ca. 37 m (121 ft) elevation.

And it looks like same as every year. A male, a female and an immature.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Female, species sexually dimorphic. Polk Yeti Park, Belton, Bell County. Texas, USA. Yeti Polk Park, west side of downtown Belton, Bell County, Texas, USA. Open park with scattered pecan trees and Plateau live oaks along Nolan Creek at ca. 151 m...

I don't usually get to see the male very often when they arrive. For some reason, the female always chases it away. Don't know whether she is usually protecting the youngster or what.

Earlier in the day yesterday I saw a beautiful Red-headed Woodpecker and came home to find this sapsucker drumming in one of my trees. I was able to distinguish its distinctive drum before I saw it: http://www.xeno-canto.org/175237