Red Bellied Woodpecker

I have a pair of these Red Bellied Woodpeckers nesting on my property.  They took over a blue bird nesting box when I neglected to replace the baffle and they excavated a huge hole for their purposes.  When they have young in the nest it's very cool to hear them pecking away on the inside of the box.  The adults are pretty skittish, they don't necessarily fly away but they almost always go around to the opposite side of the tree from the camera.  If you look closely at this one you can see the wood chips flying.  I've also discovered that they close their eyes at the moment of impact.  I'm trying to capture that but the shots so far are too blurry to publish, the birds head moves to fast to capture it. 

Last Light of the Day

This red-bellied woodpecker was enjoying the fading patches of sunlight in one of the old oaks on my property.  Shortly after he retired to the bluebird nesting box that he had modified with a gaping hole in place of the neatly drilled small one that the bluebirds prefer.  It's also hilarious to watch these woodpeckers feed from a platform feeder, they grab a sunflower seed then hang precariously off the side while they eat it.  When the young hatch you can hear them pecking away at the inside of the box impatiently waiting for their share.  These are great birds to have around the house, but then aren't they all?