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Project Noah Nature School
Melanerpes carolinus
Red mowhawk, orange around eyebrow, white cheeks, back feathers are black with banding almost flat spots. Black beak.
This particular one has found a dead tree in my backyard and has proceeded for the pas 3 weeks to carve out a beautifully round hole. He can get almost his entire body into it at this point, all but a few inches of tail feathers.
There are at least 2 of these birds near this hole. I can never get them both in the light or on the same side of the tree, but I have seen both of them on the tree together. I don't know if it's two fighting over the hole, or a mating pair. The third picture he is inside his hole, except for a little bit of tail feathers. The 3rd pic, I lightened in photoshop so you can see the hole a little better. In the last picture of this series, you can see the bark he is spitting out.
Spotted on Jan 7, 2012
Submitted on Jan 17, 2012
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