As the sun lights up a crisp winter morning landscape, the locust tree near the house hosts a colorful visitor.
She starts out from up high and gradually backs down the tree trunk to her final destination.
She is a red-bellied woodpecker (strange name, since there isn’t much of a red belly). Her male counterpart sports an entire head of bright read feathers; she has a grey crown but still a good bit of color. That black and white pattern on her back helps her to easily blend with the bark background. Now she has reached the suet feeder.
She always seems a bit nervous and doesn’t stay long. Even a light noise from inside the house will scare her off.
I am delighted to see her and let her brighten my morning a bit.
Love how you framed that first photo. You remind me to get my feeders going including the suet.
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Thanks, Barbara. Those feeders are well worth the little trouble to delight in our winged winter visitors.
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I love this post! Woodpeckers are in my top 5 favorite birds and these photos are outstanding. Thanks!
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Thank you, Glenda. I love seeing them with their bright red spots and you can always hear their weird calls (remind me of cackling a bit) π
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Cool post. The opening image is fantastic, and I especially like how I missed the small figure of the bird on the tree until I started going through the series and was forced to go back and look again. Now there is an object lesson; gentle but effective.
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Thanks, Robin. It is amazing how much we miss when we are looking at a scene, photo or not. There is so much to take in and we already have built-in (unconscious) preferences and filters.
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She certainly is a bright spot on a winter morning. She brightened my day too. It’s pretty dreary these days in the south of China. π
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You are stuck with the rainy season right now, here it’s winter and cold. I don’t know what’s worse…we’ll just have to roll with it π Glad you enjoyed Mrs. Woodpecker.
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Love your opening capture Annette!
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What beautiful photos, especially the last one. I also like the red color on the bird.
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Have a lovely week Annette. May this festive season be one full of love and peace for you and your loved ones. π
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