Red Bellied Woodpecker

Redbelly, originally uploaded by Swampier.

I'm not an ornithologist (studier of birds) but I've tried to identify most of the birds that frequent my backyard. This is a red bellied woodpecker. Not sure why they are called red bellied when the predominant area that is colored red is on the head, except that the name Red Headed Woodpecker was already taken by another bird. But they have just a tinge of red on their belly, so...there you go.

For four years we had a favorite red belly, whom my husband once referred to as Dumb Belly and the name stuck. Dumb Belly started out by flying into our windows repetitively with quite a bang but somehow survived and kept coming back. Dumb Belly later took to flying up to a window, pecking on it then flying to another and pecking on it. We used to play a game trying to choose which window Dumb Belly would peck at next, and even made bets sometimes (sort of Dumb Belly roulette). In the spring Dumb Belly would come to our bedroom window and hang by his claws on the screen and peck at the window. I would talk to him and tap back on the inside of the window, repeating his pecking pattern. Dumb Belly would occasionally not be seen for months but then would show up and play the game again. After four years, Dumb Belly disappeared for good. This photo is not of Dumb Belly but I would like to think it is a Dumb Belly descendant. If you click on the photo it will take you to Flickr where you can view it in a larger size and look around at my other photos (birds and other things).