Unlike the redhead of my previous picture/post, this guy is not the least bit eager to stick around and pose for a portrait. I only had enough time to fire off about five frames before he spooked and flew away, and in two of those he was bending over eating off the back of the feeder, so...he has no head.
So this shot is the best of the lot, and it isn't great. But I do now have pictorial evidence of both woodpeckers of 2008. I can't decide whether our friend here is a "downy" or a "hairy" woodpecker. The two species are almost identical, except one is a little bigger. I thought this must be a downy because he isn't very big, but the call I hear around here when the 'peckers fly overhead is definitely the "kingfisher-like rattle" of the hairy.
I know...this is a little more info than anybody really needs.
But I'm feeling kind of weird about being the kind of person who gets excited about red-headed sapsuckers and hairy woodpeckers in her back yard...
What a cutie. I've heard woodpeckers on the hill, but we're still on juncos and chickadees.
ReplyDeleteDon't feel weird! I do the same thing and I call the family to the kitchen window. "Look! Look! There's a ..... at the feeder." Many times the approaching footsteps are accompanied by groans on the way to the kitchen. But somehow I get a smile and a 'wow' out of them.
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