Its body was in the shadows, so I couldn’t see its belly, but I am pretty confident that this beautiful bird that I saw on Friday at Huntley Meadows Park is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), a species of woodpecker that I rarely see.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
You’ve gone whole hog, or rather wholly birds, for the past week.
I guess that I have. At this time of the year when most of the insects are gone and the fall foliage has faded, birds seem to become my prime subjects. I guess I need to search a bit wider for other things to photograph. 🙂
The only hints of these birds that I see are the hole patterns that they leave in tree bark, but I don’t even see them that often. This one seems very shy.
He barely poked his head out and then retreated behind the tree. I was happy to get any shot at all.
why is it that so many of the woodpeckers/sapsuckers look so much alike?
This is a cruel joke to confuse novices!!!! Great shot.
Great portrait! I love the ruffled texture you have captured in his feathers and that catch light in the eye. I have only rarely seen these but strangely enough I saw one yesterday.
Such a pretty little bird. You have so many woodpecker species in your area to photograph.
‘Yellow bellied sapsucker’ sounds like one of those swears you’d hear in an old Western movie before actual profanity was allowed. 😀
Great pic!
Thanks for an early morning chuckle. I grew up on Westerns and I can just imagine those words being used by a cowboy.