We have seen some woodpeckers around the bird feeders for the past few weeks. This past Sunday during lunch this Red-Bellied Woodpecker visited the feeders for several minutes. He grabbed the brim of the feeder bowl with his feet and balanced himself underneath the bowl with his tail. He leaned over the brim and pulled seeds out of the bowl before flying back to the trees behind the houses across the street.
(Clicking on any image will open the gallery for a closer look!)
And, yes, this is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker. There is a Red-Headed Woodpecker that is fully red from the neck on up. I have seen some of those down around the park but have not been close enough to get a good look with the camera.
A Trivial Mind At Work 
Awesome! I just posted a picture of a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers in my tree! It’s funny how they can balance on the feeders! Now, I have never seen a red headed variety, lucky you! Great photos!
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Thank you!
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How fun it must have been to see these red-bellied woodpeckers in action! Thanks for the terrific photos!
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He is a she 😉
I have these guys around a lot as they love the peanut suet I offer.
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That is good to know. How does one distinguish the genders? Our feeder mix has peanut suet. There are two nests nearby – one to the east of us and one to the west. We can see them fly in and back all the time.
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Look at the red of their heads… see how her red doesn’t go continuously to her beak, and is interrupted with gray. The males goes red all the way to his beak. That’s the only difference. Just like the downey and hairy woodpeckers. The males have a red beanie, where the females do not.
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Excellent. I then saw a male yesterday. I noticed that the gray patch was gone. Thank you.
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I’ve never seen American birds in the flesh but there are lots of live webcams to watch and I think that this is the most beautiful species I have seen so far.
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The woodpeckers are larger than most birds and so colorful making them a bit easier to spot.
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