Red-bellied Woodpecker

This red-bellied woodpecker was a recent backyard visitor. She wasn’t interested in the feed we offer, but apparently found something good to eat in the cracks and crevices of our fifty-year-old silver maple.  I’m saying “she” because our bird book says “red covers the crown and nape in males, only nape in female.”  I questioned why it was called red-bellied until several years ago when I was able to see a subtle red tinge to its belly.

Photography note: I recently rented a 100-400 mm Canon zoom lens from Murphy’s Camera in Lexington, KY as an experiment in backyard bird photography.  I’m pleased with the sharpness of this cropped image, but even with the larger lens I find photographing birds quite challenging.  It would help a lot if they didn’t move around so much!