Woodpeckers

Tags

downy woodpecker, photography, postaday, red-bellied woodpecker

The past few days were the coldest ones of this winter, with temperatures in the twenties or below (around -5 degrees C). The windchill temperatures were worse, forcing many schools to close. I filled up the bird feeder with sunflower seeds and more birds took advantage of it than usual. There must not have been too much for them to eat elsewhere because they emptied half of the large feeder in less than a day.

There was at least one Red-bellied Woodpecker that kept coming to the feeder, and yesterday I was able to finally take some pictures of it. Up until now, it had been a very shy bird and I could never get a good shot of it with my camera.

Red-bellied Woodpecker and Junco

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker with sunflower seed

Every time it snatched a seed, it flew to a nearby tree, inserted the seed in the bark and pecked at it. The following photo shows that behavior, even though I could not get any closer with my lens.

Red-bellied Woodpecker and seed

Meanwhile, the Downy Woodpecker also made its appearance. We usually see more of them than of the Red-Bellied kind.

Downy Woodpecker