The Story Of Red & Rosey

About 4 years ago, when I first started using my camera, a male red-bellied woodpecker introduced himself with a number of chuck, chuck, chucks. I was pleased to see him and he became the subject of one of my first images. I decided to call him "Red." During that first Winter, I took many images of Red. Through trial and error, I found that Red liked "mixed fruit and nuts." Often, I saw him picking the largest white nut available and holding it in his beak to examine it. The nut reminded me of a brazil nut but I don't know what it was. It was just big. Throughout the first Winter, Red was the only red-bellied woodpecker in the woods. After the Winter, when March arrived, I heard Red chucking continuously and louder than I had ever heard him chuck. I thought the worst had happened and that he was in the clutches of a hawk. After a search, I found him chucking at another red-bellied woodpecker--a female. Of course, she became Rosey. Since Red and Rosey first met, there have been a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers in the woods. They act as if they are mated. Last Summer, I spotted 5 of them.

This past week, the current Red and Rosey were sharing the fruit and nut feeder in front of the woods. Red is on the left and Rosey is on the right.

Rarely do they visit the feeder at the same time. It seems as if they have their own rules on feeding and the rules include one red-bellied woodpecker at a time on the feeder. They are very vocal at feeding time. On the day of the above image, Red was in the woods to the left of the feeder and Rosey was in the woods to the right of the feeder. As they approached the feeder, they would chuck, chuck, chuck and they would take turns visiting the feeder. As soon as one was done at the feeder, the other would come down for a treat. Since they were both active at the feeder, I decided to try to take an image from the deck. To my surprise, they got their chucks mixed and ended up at the feeder at the same time. Both appeared surprised that they were both on the feeder and I quickly took the image before one left.

(Originally posted on November 20, 2009)

Red-bellied Woodpecker