Woodpecker Wednesday: A Red-bellied Visitor

This Red-bellied Woodpecker is the first woodpecker we have had visit our trees here in many weeks.  I was very excited to see this bird here!  I heard that unmistakable “Chuff-chuff” and looked for the woodpecker up in the Live Oak next door.

We have had a lot of rain here and woodpeckers often are active just after the rains end.  Insects tend to come out of the cracks and folds of the bark and wood making it easier for the woodpeckers to get at the tasty bites.  I took these pictures yesterday, Sept. 23, 2014.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.  Enjoy!

 

Wordless Wednesday: A Pileated Woodpecker

This Pileated Woodpecker came to visit across the street from my home on August 8, 2014, when I snapped these pictures.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

 

Woodpecker Wednesday: A Red-Bellied Woodpecker

This Red-bellied Woodpecker was spotted at what I like to call the “Woodpecker colony” located in a pasture near one of the entrances to this development.  This is in a working cattle ranch pasture.  It is a block from the rainfall retention pond where I have been seeing the ducks and egrets.

Last year I also spotted quite a few Red-headed Woodpeckers in this pasture location.  While I was there taking pictures, I did hear what I think was the trill of a Red-headed Woodpecker,  but that bird was likely deep in the nearby Oak forest on the ranch property (not accessible).  I took these pictures of the chatty woodpecker on March 9, 2014 early in the evening.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.  As ever, I hope you will enjoy the pictures!

A Red-bellied Woodpecker in a Live Oak

A Red-bellied Woodpecker was busy pecking at the bark of a large Live Oak in a neighbor’s front yard a few houses down from my home yesterday.  I was surprised to hear that unmistakable “chuff-chuff-chuff” call.  I knew that a Red-bellied Woodpecker was up in the tree above me.  I searched for the elusive bird which played peek-a-boo going up and around branches into the heavy thicket of leaves and back.

This bird is an older juvenile or it is a small adult in molt.  The bird was looking for insects or Acorns, which it would eat now and cache away for later.  This is the first Red-bellied Woodpecker I have seen on my street in the five months I have lived here.  I took these pictures on Sunday, August 18, 2013 from the street.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photograph.  Enjoy!

Woodpecker Wednesday – A Pileated Woodpecker

A young adult Pileated Woodpecker visited the Oak Trees in my front yard and my next-door neighbor’s yard yesterday morning.  This is the first Pileated Woodpecker I have seen in my three months of living in Florida.

Pileated Woodpeckers are among the larger of the woodpeckers.  Like most woodpeckers, the Pileated Woodpeckers like Oak Trees a lot.  Oaks provide Acorns as well as a variety of insect larvae and also sometimes provide shelter within hollowed-out tree trunks for these birds.  There are many Live Oaks in my neighborhood.  I had only seen a Downy Woodpecker here but my hubby has heard the distinctive call of the Red-headed Woodpecker so I expect that this Pileated Woodpecker has woodpecker companions of several kinds.  I took these pictures on June 25, 2013 from my front yard.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

A Woodpecker at the Feeder

This Red-bellied Woodpecker has been coming to the bird seed feeder just below my front porch for several weeks now off and on.   At first, the woodpecker could not make sense of the feeder and would only take a seed from the flat plastic bottom tray of the feeder.  Now, the bird has learned to put its long pointed bill into the opening of the seed cylinder and take a seed.  It prefers Sunflower Seeds to the Millet.  I took these pictures from my living room window on October 26, 2012.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!  I will close with my prayers and best of luck to those in the path of the hurricane Sandy in the next few days in the East.  Our weather here in Tennessee where I live is not really affected much and we are going to be absolutely fine here.

Woodpecker Wednesday

This Red-headed Woodpecker is seen here on his or her usual perch, which is way up high on the top of the electric pole.  In fact, this is now the usual place for me to spot these birds here.  They have not been coming to the bird feeder.  I think there are enough insects around now that the weather has been warmer and more humid.  The woodpeckers mostly enjoy eating insects but do eat nuts seeds and fruit on occasion.  Both genders of the Red-headed Woodpecker look so similar, I cannot tell one from the other.  They are magnificent birds and I am so glad to have several around the yards and general neighborhood.  I took these pictures in my yard on several days, July 17-19, 2012.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.  Enjoy!

An Almost Wordless Wednesday

Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker

Cotton-tailed Rabbit

I took these pictures in my yard yesterday, July 17, 2012.   Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Barn Swallows

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Red-headed Woodpecker

Canada Goslings Learning to Fly

Woodpecker Wednesday: A Red-Headed Woodpecker Pecks

I was walking along my driveway near the street when I noticed a Red-Headed Woodpecker on one of the larger Oaks here.  It was walking up the trunk and then it stopped and started pecking at the bark.  I think it is either drilling a new home or is building a pantry cache spot in the trunk.  The other possibility is that there may have been insects in the bark that the bird was trying to get at.  I took the pictures rather late in the afternoon.  After a few minutes, the bird gave up and flew off.

I just love watching the woodpeckers!  Right now, the only woodpeckers I am seeing out are the Red-Bellied and the Red-Headed.  I do occasionally hear a Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker (yes, it is the woodpecker and not a Mockingbird calling) way out in the yard.  My husband also told me he saw the flicker here recently.  I do get to see the Red-Headed Woodpeckers almost daily here now.  I took these shots on June 3, 2012 on the street in front of my home here at the little farm.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Woodpecker Wednesday: The “Reds”

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Now there are two woodpecker families here.  I saw and heard a Red-Bellied Woodpecker here the other day up in one of the pond-side Oaks.  It trilled its call a number of times and flitted around the now fully-leafed out branches.  I think that there are caterpillars in the Oaks that the woodpeckers find delicious.  The other of the woodpeckers in residence here is the Red-Headed Woodpecker.  I saw it yesterday up at the top of the electric pole near the house.  It too was trilling away.  These two kinds of woodpecker have similar calls and songs but the Red-Bellied’s song is louder and longer in my opinion.  I took these pictures on May 7, 2012, and again on May 8, 2012 in my yard.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Red-Headed Woodpecker