Bird photographer says: Wow -- cool bird...pecking away so must be a woodpecker!
Birder says: Look at the beak, it's longer than a downy's would be. Note [name some other features]. It clearly is a hairy woodpecker! UPDATE: But then more birders weigh in. I do believe this is a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
I'm clearly a bird photographer, not a birder! To me, it's simply a very cool woodpecker.
Nice photo. I am a strictly amateur birder but I don’t think this is a hairy woodpecker…if that is red I’m seeing on the chin and along with the pattern on the wings it seems closer to a sapsucker (maybe the yellow-bellied). Any birders out there with better info, please feel free to correct me! :)
@amyk Thanks Amy! Yes, I'd be interested in hearing from birders. I'm going by Merlin app and what the birders in the group said, so have no confidence at all in my identification (other than it's a cool looking woodpecker!)
you got me looking - it seems a hairy woodpecker has an all white belly, but the image looks much more like a sapsucker to me as @amyk suggests. Yellow bellied is my closest guess too. (I am not a birder - just looking up images on the web!). Either way, what a lovely sight.
