Yesterday, before I got distracted by the unknown object (sleeping great horned owl) up in the top of the pine tree down the block, what had I seen just off the end of our yard that had caused me to drop everything, grab the camera, and hustle across the yard to get some closeups?
This gal!
The Cornell University Merlin app can’t quite decide if it’s a female Nuttall’s Woodpecker or a female Ladder-backed Woodpecker…
…but I think it’s more likely a Nuttall’s Woodpecker. If you click on the pictures to blow them up to full sized, you’ll see a tiny patch of yellow by her beak, which isn’t mentioned as an identifying mark but which can be seen in Merlin’s pictures of other Nuttall’s Woodpeckers, but not in any of their pictures of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers.
I know it’s a female because males of both species have red heads, while females are just black and white.
Either way, it was a bad day to be a bug or a termite on that pine tree. Feast away!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 