As the sun lights up a crisp winter morning landscape, the locust tree near the house hosts a colorful visitor.
woodpecker backing down the tree
She starts out from up high and gradually backs down the tree trunk to her final destination.
Red-bellied woodpecker
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.
female red-bellied woodpecker
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.
The Beauty Along the Road 
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) 🙂
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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. 🙂
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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 🙂 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. 🙂
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