A red-bellied woodpecker twists its head into an unusual position, possibly to listen to insects within the dead tree.

© All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved

This species disappears from our immediate neighborhood over winter; I'm not sure I've ever seen one within a mile of our home earlier in the year than February, though I look in all its favorite hangouts. But I saw quite a few at McCormick's Creek State Park (or saw the same individual repeatedly, or some variation of such).

© All Rights Reserved

I was photographing the red-headed woodpecker when the downy flew in. I shouldn't have zoomed quite so far out, though . . .

© All Rights Reserved