Weekend Birding: Red-bellied Woodpecker
The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a year round resident in my yard. This medium-sized woodpecker can be found in the eastern half of the United States. They prefer the tall woodland trees but can be enticed to backyard feeders with offerings of suet or peanuts.
This female is often in my yard. I was potting some plants to bring in for the winter when I heard a loud yelp from the walnut tree and seconds later there she was at the feeder scolding me because it was empty. She has very distinctive calls, a cha-cha-cha or rolling kwirrr sound. Once you are familiar with it the bird is easy to find.
You can tell this is a female by the lack of red feathers on the top of her head. The male has an all red cap and juvenile birds have no color on their heads. People always want to call this bird a red-headed woodpecker, but that’s a different bird. If you look real close you can see a small patch of red feathers on her belly, which is how she got her name.
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I’m participating in Saturday Snapshots this weekend. Head on over to At Home With Books to see more great photos.
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Weekend Birding is cross-posted on LadyMin’s Garden.
Under My Apple Tree 
You are such an amazing photographer — I can never take good pictures of birds…they’re so quick! xo
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That’s the problem with birds, they move! I have lots of blurry bird photos too.
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Me, too! Maybe that’s what makes the clear ones so special 🙂
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Woodpeckers are so pretty! We used to have one that lived behind our house when I was growing up, and I wasn’t so fond of it on early mornings though. 🙂 So noisy!
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All I can say is WOW! You captured such a great image, and with such clarity…
Thanks for visiting my blog.
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I especially love her checkerboard wings. We have woodpeckers in our back yard too. Sometimes they will peck the downspouts on the side of our house – now that’s a racket!
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What a great photo! I love birds – my dad taught me a lot about them at an early age. I have downy woodpeckers around my house. Birds are hard to photograph – I’ve been trying for a long time to get good shots of cardinals but so far no luck. I live in Manchester, NH and peregrine falcons are frequent neighborhood visitors. They nest on the (only) highrise building in town.
Thanks for sharing,
Jen
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Cardinals are such shy birds they are difficult to photograph. If they see you they take off. Occasionally I’ll get lucky and have the camera in the yard when one stops by and I can get off a few shots.
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Those woodpeckers are gorgeous, but we’ve got one that’s taken a liking to our house and has done some damage to the trim, so right now, it doesn’t look so cute to us. Your photo is outstanding!
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I’ve had them peck at the deck railings on occasion but so far not the house. Perhaps you can lure yours away with a feeder in a tree?
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I’ve recently become very interested in birdwatching so I loved this post. I liked to make some time on the weekends to watch, but I don’t think that will happen for a few months.
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Awesome capture. Wow! I have these guys on my feeder year-round too. They are pretty brave and don’t fly away when I’m out doing yard work.
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That is gorgeous! Wow! Thanks for the bright spot!
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