Unidentified Flying Dinosaur: That Little Red-Headed Woodpecker

Dana Hunter

There was one afternoon in April that was rather astonishing. B and I were taking a leisurely walk along North Creek behind the ballfields, and we heard a woodpecker. Next thing we knew, the trees were full of them. A veritable cloud of woodpeckers seemed to fly by and select individual trees. They took me by surprise, and I wasn’t able to photograph them all. But one landed close to us, and didn’t mind my antics, so I have that lovely little one, with video even!

Image shows a small woodpecker on the trunk of a white tree that has little holes drilled in. The woodpecker has its back to us. It has a brilliant red head, and a gray and black body with horizontal bars down its back and tail.
UFD I

I wish my brain could film what I see and download it direct to the computer, because none of these images of a single little woodpecker will live up to seeing so many swoop by. Still. Isn’t it wonderful?

Another image of the same woodpecker. It has turned its head slightly, and you can see its short, stout beak.
UFD II

I don’t recall having many woodpeckers in Arizona. I think I saw one maybe once or twice. They were rather exotic to me, and of course my understanding of them was filtered through Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Now that I’m here in Washington, I see quite a few different ones, and they’re all wonderful, and none of them have that bloody silly laugh.

The woodpecker has gone back to pecking. Image is zoomed out a bit, and from another angle, showing off the new green leaves and the blue sky forming the backdrop to our woodpecker.
UFD III

I’ve learned to listen for a rapid rata-ta-tat on tree trunks when I’m in the forest. But it hadn’t occurred to me to listen for it along the most populated part of North Creek! I’ve seen woodpeckers along the proper wetland portion, but this is just a narrow strip of water and greenery between commercial buildings and busy ballfields. It seems many of our native birds have adapted just fine to the presence of humans, and are happy to feast wherever, whenever, no matter who’s about.

Still, I don’t often catch woodpeckers along this portion. I’ve tried coming back around the same time of day, but no luck. I suppose they have habits I could suss out if I spent more time there.

Here’s our little darling figuring out what I’m up to before deciding I wasn’t likely to spoil its dinner, and then showing us why those trees have all those holes in their bark. Enjoy!

P.S. The title’s merely a play on Charlie Brown. These aren’t actually red-headed woodpeckers. I mean, they’re redheads, but not that kind. I wouldn’t give it away like that!

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Unidentified Flying Dinosaur: That Little Red-Headed Woodpecker

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5 thoughts on “Unidentified Flying Dinosaur: That Little Red-Headed Woodpecker”

  3. rq
    3

    Yep, agreed! Very pretty. Well done, Dana, on capturing the beaut, and well done, Sapsucker, for posing so well and patiently!

  4. otrame
    4

    I wondered about the sap sucker. It looked like that was what it was doing. I know that the woodpeckers and sap suckers are closely related and I suspect that both eat both kinds of food.

    Those are some lovely photos, Dana. I have taken, once in a blue moon, photos I call “accidental art” because they are gorgeous photos but I can’t claim I did it on purpose. You seem to create photos that are art on a regular basis, with subjects that are very difficult to photograph. I envy. I envy.

  5. Crimson Clupeidae
    5

    I have to disagree with you about the woodpeckers here in Az (I’ve moved back home!!!). We’ve got downy (and less common hairy) wood peckers, hairy woodpeckers, gila woodpeckers, red-shafted and gold shafted flickers, and that’s just in Southern Az.

    if you go north into the white mountains, you’ll see many more.

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