January 11, 2012

Red-bellied Woodpecker

SDP  1-11-12
Granted, I could not see the rose color that's supposed to be on this woodpecker's belly to indicate that it is indeed a red-bellied woodpecker, but after scouring through my trusty Birds of Florida manual, I've determined it cannot be: a pileated woodpecker, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker or a red-headed woodpecker, which leaves the red-bellied. Anyway, I heard this little fellow pecking on a branch at Selby Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota.  Affter staring upward for awhile, I finally spotted him. Even with that shock of red, he wasn't easy to locate. One of my loyal followers in Houston (who happened to miss her flight from Tampa back to Texas due to a triple overtime football game - oops!) mentioned she recently saw a beautiful woodpecker and wished I would have been there to capture the moment.   Well, I missed that one....so, I offer this red-bellied instead.

5 comments:

cieldequimper said...

Pretty. Redheaded too!

Kate said...

Nice capture; altho hard for you to find, the red certainly stands out in your photo.

Lowell said...

I dunno...looks like a red-headed one to me! :-)

This is a nice capture...the light makes it!

Clueless in Boston said...

I'm not very much of a bird watcher, but this one is quite striking.

Jack said...

It is a grand specimen of whatever species it is. I have seen huge woodpeckers in Florida, much bigger than the ones I see in New England.