A Hairy Woodpecker Visited - Monday, March 16, 2015

I spent Monday, March 16 sitting at the table writing blogs and watching the birds at the feeder. The feeder had the usual house finches, sparrows, cardinals, brown-headed cowbirds, and red-winged blackbirds.

But it was a bird on a tree that caught my eye: the hairy woodpecker, which is rare in South Texas. It looks almost identical to the downy woodpecker, but what gave it away was a longer beak and a narrow longer white patch on its back (as opposed to the downy woodpecker).

Hairy woodpecker

Hairy woodpecker

Hairy woodpecker pecking

That's it for today. I just had to share this rare visitor to our area.