Red-headed Woodpecker

We hiked further north in Florida recently and got to see a bird we rarely (actually never in 20-some years) see in our area, the Red-headed woodpecker. Most bird maps show its range extending to Tampa Bay, but while we frequently saw Red-bellied, Downy, Pileated, and even Hairy during our many years of citizen science projects and official and unofficial counts, we always traveled north to see this one.

The day turned out absolutely beautiful. Warm, with lower humidity, and as seen in the photographs, a gorgeous blue cloudless sky. We also spotted other woodpeckers, the Eastern Phoebe, one of our winter residents, and some fast flying warblers. We stood and watched this bird for a while as it searched for and successfully found, a meal.