Central Park 1/17--Red-headed Woodpecker

We hadn't seen a Red-Headed Woodpecker since we saw some quite a few years ago at The Great Swamp in NJ, so today we gave it a try and were almost immediately successful, find the first winter bird with its brown, not red, head and distinctive white markings, on a tree along the edge of the Sheep Meadow. We got "field guide" looks at it for a few minutes and Shari was able to take some good pictures of it before a Red-tailed Hawk swooped in and the woodpecker took off for points southwest.

Photo: Shari Zirlin

Having accomplished our target bird with so much ease we decided to take a stab at seeing the Varied Thrush again, and walked up to the maintenance buildings in the The Ramble. We stopped twice, once before going to the feeders and then on the way back. Both times the bird had "just left a few minutes ago." Consolation prizes were another Red-tail posing very cooperatively in a low branch and 2 male Eastern Towhees, both of them photo hogs.

Photo: Shari Zirlin

At the feeders we saw a Brown Creeper, my favorite winter bird. Besides its usual behavior of climbing a tree then flying to the next, this one also perched on one of the coconuts smeared with peanut butter and I don't know what else and partook of that protein mixture. I've never seen that before.

In all we had 4 woodpecker species today: Red-headed, Red-bellied, Yellow-bellied, and Downy.

Today's satisfying list:

Number of species:    20
Canada Goose    X    Heard 
Red-tailed Hawk    2
Rock Pigeon    25
Red-headed Woodpecker    1    First winter plumage, trees southern edge of Sheep Meadow
Red-bellied Woodpecker    3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker    2
Downy Woodpecker    1
Blue Jay    7
Black-capped Chickadee    10
Tufted Titmouse    7
Red-breasted Nuthatch    1    Feeders
White-breasted Nuthatch    1    Feeders
Brown Creeper    1    Feeders
Eastern Towhee    2    East of maintenance buildings
Fox Sparrow    3
White-throated Sparrow    75
Dark-eyed Junco    10    Feeders
Northern Cardinal    5
American Goldfinch    3    Feeders
House Sparrow    100