Red-heads

A few miles from home there’s a small area of woodland, part of which was once cleared that became a stand of white ash, now dead from the feeding of the introduced emerald ash borer. The rest of the woodland is comprised of very large, very tall red oak and sugar maple with hardly any understory of shrubs and small trees. A small stream runs through the woodland adding another habitat type to the area.

One mild winter day when the ice and snow had almost completely melted, I returned to the woodland where we had spent many pleasant days. As I walked a path among the impressively large trees, there was a flash of white from a medium-sized bird in flight. Most birds that size don’t show much white as they fly, especially large areas of white. So I slowly and quietly walked toward the spot where it landed and saw a woodpecker on the trunk of a small shagbark hickory tree – a red-headed woodpecker.

In recent years the only red-headed woodpeckers I’ve seen have been in and near the Gettysburg battlefield about two and a half hour drive to the south. So it was a treat to see this bird so much closer to home. This called for a slow and careful approach: I wanted more photos of the red-head. The woodpecker flew to the ground and then back to the tree –

The brownish face on the bird indicated it was a juvenile red-headed woodpecker.

After spending a few minutes on the tree the bird flew to parts unknown –

With the bird gone, I kept walking. Surprise! There was another flash of white as a second red-headed woodpecker flew from one tree to another. The bird inspected some of the numerous holes in several of the large trees –

This bird was an adult red-headed woodpecker, indicated by its solid red head. It flew to another tree –

And then flew off and out of sight. With that I too left – but I’ll be back.