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The Red-headed Woodpecker is a gorgeous woodpecker bird with a bright red head from which it got its name. This North American species, with its boldly-patterned plumage, is popular among the bird-watchers and is widely spread almost all across the country, and is known in different names like ‘flag bird’ and ‘patriotic bird’. Once a very common bird in the country’s eastern part, this species has been showing long-term declines in a moderately rapid rate, which is primarily because of their degradation and loss of habitat in recent decades.
The red-headed woodpecker was a favorite to celebrated ornithologists like Alexander Wilson and Audubon.
These birds are ‘monomorphic’, which means, the males and females look so similar that, they are practically indistinguishable even when taken in the hand. To know the gender, you actually need to run a DNA test or a dissection of the bird.
This species is the only woodpecker in the eastern part that has a completely red head.
In 1996, the RHW was featured on a United States Postal Service 2-cent stamp.
These are one of the only four woodpecker species that cover their reserved foods with bark or wood. They would even store live stocks like grasshoppers wedged so tightly in a crevice that it is impossible for the insect to escape.
This species of woodpeckers is relatively small compared to others in its family.
The presence of white patches on its wings makes them especially noticeable when they are flying.
In this species, the annual adult survivorship is estimated to be around 62%.
This bird can dig holes that can measure up to 20 to 60 centimeters in depth.
A red-headed woodpecker takes 2-3 weeks or more to excavate one single hole.
I found this one along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, Florida.
Just got back after some weeks in Norway. Didnt get much time for photography this time either, except the ones i took from the garden. We had loads of these birds around the house
© All rights reserved Rosa Maria Marti. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland
A different view of the castle. I'd been warned so I knew that between 9am & 6pm you are not allowed to fly a drone near the castle but I have to commend the owners for not putting a blanket ban on drones. I suspect this way people are more likely to obey the rules and come early or late like I did.
Again I hope to reshoot this in Oct or March and think sun set may be better. It is an epic view though!
© All rights reserved Steve Pellatt. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Abençoado e Lindo Fim de Semana para meus Queridos Amigos
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Blessed and Beautiful Weekend to my Dear Friends
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Week-end Heureux et Belle pour mes Chers Amis
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Fin de semana Bienaventurado y Hermoso para mis Queridos Amigos
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Beato e Bella Fine Settimana per i miei Cari Amici.
Clipped wings, I was a broken thing
Had a voice, had a voice but I could not sing
You would wind me down
I struggled on the ground, oh
So lost, the line had been crossed
Had a voice, had a voice but I could not talk
You held me down
I struggle to fly now, oh
Songwriters: Sia Furler / Gregory Kurstin
Picture Taken @ Wild Edge
"and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own"
Excerpt from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou
“Never your bird, never finch
never graceful feathered thing.”
― Krysten Hill, How Her Spirit Got Out
happy sliderssunday
~~♥~~
The verdin is a common sight, and even more common sound, here in the Valley of the Sun. They the only representative of the Old World Remizidae family of birds here in North America. Both the male and the female participate in nest building, with the male building the exterior while the female does the interior decorating. According the the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, one pair of verdins in Arizona was observed building 11 nests in one year.