Red-bellied Woodpeckers

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Red-bellied Woodpeckers

March 6, 2013 by Mike Powell

Walking through the woods on Monday, I heard the sound of a woodpecker and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).

Most of the woodpeckers that I see are Downy Woodpeckers, which are cute in their own way, but I had been longing to see some of the bigger woodpeckers. Although the woodpecker was fairly high in the tree, I was happy that I managed to get some recognizable shots in different poses.

I stopped in the visitor center as I was leaving the park and happened to glance through the window at the bird feeders. The birds at the feeders tend to be fairly small, including nuthatches, chickadees and tufted titmice. Imagine my surprise when a big woodpecker showed up at the suet feeder—it was another Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

Although I was indoors, I decided to take a few shots of the woodpecker. I think I ended up with a pretty cool image, in which the shadow of the wire cage imparted a striped pattern to the bird’s bill. When you first look at the image, you may not even realize that the stripes are added.

Now that I have photographed a medium-sized woodpecker, I will be in search of a Pileated Woodpecker—the superstar of woodpeckers.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes carolinus, Red-bellied Woodpecker, woodpecker | 16 Comments

16 Responses

on March 6, 2013 at 7:52 pm | Reply krikitarts

I especially like the pose you caught in the second shot. They are so hard to get close to!
- on March 6, 2013 at 8:00 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Normally when I try to get close to woodpeckers, they either fly away or they climb out of range. These shots were cropped quite a bit,but at least they were unobstructed views.
on March 7, 2013 at 12:56 am | Reply talain45

Nice clicks Mike, Good job 🙂
- on March 7, 2013 at 7:30 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I am keeping my eyes and ears open for new birds all the time.
on March 7, 2013 at 6:53 am | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

Nice! You won’t have any trouble seeing the pileated woodpecker. I was shocked at how big they are the first time I saw one.
- on March 7, 2013 at 7:02 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  The only one I have seen was at the same suet feeder as the Red-bellied and it indeed was so big that I thought it would take down the feeder.
on March 7, 2013 at 8:18 am | Reply Norunn Mølsæter

Red- bellied? Looks like red headed to me?! 🙂 – but it’s cute!
- on March 7, 2013 at 7:29 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Apparently the name “red-headed” was already being used for another woodpecker with a totally red head. As for the red belly, I’ve never seen that part of the woodpecker.
on March 7, 2013 at 1:21 pm | Reply caleephotography

What a beautiful bird!! I’ve never seen a woodpecker, but I recall hearing them when I was younger. It’s great seeing them in your blog! Looking forward to see the superstar 😀
on March 7, 2013 at 2:20 pm | Reply Pierre Cenerelli

Great shot! I would love to see (and photograph) one of these someday.
- on March 7, 2013 at 7:25 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. Happy hunting with your camera for this bird and for other subjects that you seek.
on March 7, 2013 at 9:19 pm | Reply Sebastian | Bodhirose's Blog

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on March 8, 2013 at 7:30 pm | Reply Stephanie

Loves these shots Mike. So animated!
- on March 8, 2013 at 8:45 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Stephanie. I was shooting as fast as my camera would let me, because the woodpeckers don’t like to sit still at all.
on March 13, 2013 at 6:38 pm | Reply French cranes, woodpeckers, and red kites | Dear Kitty. Some blog

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