Our New Red-Bellied Friend

A while back, Taigen mentioned that he saw a new bird at the feeder. When he described it to me, I thought it was a Downy Woodpecker. This one is black and white with a small patch of red on his head. Taigen insisted that it was a large patch of red on the head. He looked in the handy-dandy bird book and pointed to the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. I told him that we've never had one at the feeder before. This was exciting news! We spotted one that same week and when I went to go get the camera and turn it on, the batteries decided that it was time to be charged. I missed him entirely!

I had noticed this morning that there was some activity at the feeder. The Tufted Titmice and Blue Jays were going back and forth and the Juncos were gathering up leftovers on the ground. I looked a bit more closely one time and saw our new friend swinging on the suet! I grabbed the camera and started snapping. He is so big and beautiful! The pics of him on the suet didn't turn out well, but he flew to a tree and was still long enough for me to grab a couple of shots. I'm delighted he came back!