{"id":131685,"date":"2024-08-02T02:37:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T07:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=131685"},"modified":"2025-08-10T06:47:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T11:47:42","slug":"hatch-year-red-bellied-woodpecker-with-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/02\/hatch-year-red-bellied-woodpecker-with-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatch year Red-bellied Woodpecker With Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

After I photographed the Ruby-throated Hummingbird<\/span><\/a> I shared yesterday, I focused on a hatch year Red-bellied Woodpecker with some kind of prey in their bill.<\/p>\n

\"HatchHatch year Red-bellied Woodpecker \u2013 Canon R7, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 1250, -0.7 EV, Canon 100-500mm at 500mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I can’t tell if the prey the young Red-bellied Woodpecker had was an ant, a spider, or a spider that mimics ants.<\/p>\n

What I do know is that I was excited to have this woodpecker in my viewfinder. Now that the Eastern Bluebird chick has fledged<\/span><\/a>, the adult bluebirds aren’t chasing away this species of woodpecker, jays, or other birds that get close to the nest box they nested in anymore.<\/p>\n

This hatch-year Red-bellied Woodpecker was a distance from the nest box. It was neat to see the young bird foraging on the ground.<\/p>\n

Regarding this immature woodpecker’s gender, I believe he is a male. The fresh red feathers on the top of his head wouldn’t be there if this bird were a female.<\/p>\n

Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I appreciate being corrected because that is how I learn.<\/p>\n

I hope to see this young woodpecker again. For the few minutes I watched him foraging on the ground, he fascinated me. He actually reminded me of watching Northern Flickers as they foraged for ants on the ground in my garden in Virginia.<\/p>\n

I didn’t see this Red-bellied Woodpecker<\/span><\/a> yesterday, but who knows, maybe I will see him sometime this morning!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Red-bellied Woodpecker photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After I photographed the Ruby-throated Hummingbird I shared yesterday, I focused on a hatch year Red-bellied Woodpecker with some kind of prey in their bill. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,27,13997,13951],"tags":[4515,1130,13931,3747,5381,4067,13998,14923,4106,13999,3901,2315,8018,4777,2146,13966,4193],"class_list":["post-131685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-red-bellied-woodpeckers","category-sebastian-county","tag-ant","tag-food","tag-garden","tag-grass","tag-hatch-year","tag-immature","tag-melanerpes-carolinus","tag-pine-straw","tag-prey","tag-red-bellied-woodpecker","tag-spider","tag-summer-3","tag-urban","tag-woodpecker","tag-woodpeckers","tag-yard","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-bellied-woodpecker-immature-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-8336.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-yfX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130360,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/09\/immature-red-bellied-woodpecker-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":131685,"position":0},"title":"Immature Red-bellied Woodpecker Portraits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, while waiting for the first rain bands from Hurricane Beryl, I sat on Steve Creek's deck to photograph this immature Red-bellied Woodpecker.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-bellied Woodpecker portrait, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0184.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-immature-mia-mcpherson-0184.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/27\/young-red-bellied-woodpecker-on-a-hot-summer-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":131685,"position":1},"title":"Young Red-bellied Woodpecker On A Hot Summer Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing two photos of a young Red-bellied Woodpecker that I photographed two days ago. 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I was visiting my dear friend and fellow photographer, Steve Creek.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Red-bellied Woodpecker pecking wood, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-young-pecking-wood-mia-mcpherson-1671.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-young-pecking-wood-mia-mcpherson-1671.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/red-bellied-woodpecker-young-pecking-wood-mia-mcpherson-1671.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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