I thought I spotted Santa the other day, peering into my kitchen window as I washed the dishes. His bright red cap was lit up with sunlight and a blush of cherry color crept across his belly. But that belly didn’t shake like a bowl full of jelly, and Old Saint Nick isn’t the only red-clad fellow flying around lately. 

My visitor turned out to be a handsome red-bellied woodpecker with no interest in whether I’ve been bad or good. Nor was he there for cookies and milk; he preferred to snack on the prized black-oil sunflower seeds in my window feeder. Red-bellied woodpeckers also enjoy suet feeders and peanuts, in addition to their primary natural food sources such as insects, plant material, nuts and some fruits.

 The Cornell Lab of Ornithology shared the following “Cool Fact” to consider: “A Red-bellied Woodpecker can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food.” 

This fairly common woodpecker prefers to nest in dead trees, where it excavates a nest cavity and lays eggs on the bed of wood chips created by the excavation. We make it a practice to leave dead trees standing for this reason (and for other reasons too), and have observed various woodpecker species, like the pileated woodpecker in our backyard. 

Visit https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker/overview to learn more.

If I do see Santa while I’m busy observing the beautiful birds flocking my feeder, I plan to put in an order for a big bag of black-oil sunflower seeds for my backyard buddies. I’ll put in a good word for our devoted readers, too. “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”