I love the red bellied woodpeckers! I have a lot of them around here but I don't often get close. They are pretty skittish like the mourning doves and quick to fly off at the first hint of movement through the window. It's great in the summer when there is a group of them (Mom and Dad and the kids), swooping around in the woods making quite a racket! The kids learning life's lessons, following the adults around while instructions are squawked to them.
Always very cute...the black-capped chickadee. They may be little but they are quite brave! Many of them will come right over to the feeders as I fill them and sit right next to me, watching, as if to say "hurry up already, we've been waiting!" Quite the characters!
An interesting tidbit about these guys....these tiny little birds are able to survive very cold temperatures by practicing nocturnal hypothermia. At night, they puff up their feathers to increase their insulation and lower their body temperature by as much as 15 degrees! This allows their stores of fat to last longer so they can survive long winter nights. Their body temperature begins to rise before sunrise to be ready for the next days activities.
And one bird that can always brighten a gray day! I have tons of these guys around! Had they decided to perch closer together in the bushes here, you would have seen 4 splashes of bright red!
And the mourning doves! I have a huge flock here and have always loved these pretty birds. Although they sound sad (thus the name!), my flock seems to be pretty happy! They should be...they have a crazy lady keeping bird feeders full for the squirrels and birds! LOL
