Accidental Birding

One last post for the day. After all the work, I took my folding chair and set it in the shade of a runt oak and with my 10x binoculars set up to see what I could see. Eastern Cardinals abound on the land and their beautiful song echoes from side to side as the males compete for attention. I'm used to seeing flashes of red as they flit by.

Today however, I saw a new shade of red, tinging to orange. A new bird! The orange was so unusual and he kindly alighted on a treetop where I could observe him with the binoculars. Longish beak, round head with a crown flowing back to nape splashed in brilliant red-orange. I could only see his head and white face and long beak, but nothing more of his body except a hint of gray or brown through the leaves. When he flew off I was surprised that he was pretty large and my initial impression was that it was the size and shape of a woodpecker - but I've never seen one with that much color before.

So when I got home I googled Central Texas bird identification and found to my surprise that I had spotted the Red-bellied Woodpecker. I've never been into birding, but it sure was a joy to see a bird I've never seen before. According to the range maps, this area is about as far west as they get so it was a special treat!