A surprising bad boy of the backyard

This is the first year we have had a red-bellied WP in the yard. While he is very skittish with the humans, he is not afraid of the other birds. Don't let his charming good looks fool you.

Here he is showing his displeasure of sharing the feeder with the House Sparrows.

another

I love the Red-bellied Woodpeckers! Nice pics Chris!

If they don't move fast enough, he gives them a little motivation.

and STAY OUT!

He also has a problem with the Starlings

This feeder isn't big enough for the both of us!

Maybe if I twist your leg a little....

want some more of that!

I'm watching you!

If you don't move fast enough, I'll peck you in the side of the head.

He has also had short run ins with the local bluejays, no pictures yet. Surprisingly he wins most of the battles. He was able to keep a half dozen Starlings at bay while he enjoyed some peanuts. I'm just surprised how agressive he is with the other birds.

Very nice run of pics - photos are nice a sharp. I have several Red-bellies that come around here, but none of them seem to be as short-tempered as yours.

Hack

Thanks, I wasn't sure if this was common behavoir or not. But he has a confrontation whenever another bird is on the feeder he desires.

Very nice sequence of shots chris8796!

Great shots, all of them Chris! I sure wish I could get one of them to come visit our area. I didn't realize they were so territorial.

What a wonderful series, Chris.

Just lurked in and really enjoyed this series. That is one bad woodpecker!

My male Red-bellied's are just like yours Chris. The females seem to be more tolerant.

Cool pics. really enjoyed looking at the pics and reading your comments:-)

Great photos! I adore the red-bellied, and I was surprised to notice in our backyard that the Blue Jays tend to steer clear of him. It's rare for the Blue Jays not to take on any other bird.

Thanks for all the feedback, its nice to know my RBWP is not the only bad boy. I was watching him again this morning for a while. I discovered there are more than one male around. I saw a RBWP male chasing another male. I was hoping to catch a confrontation with a Blue Jay today, but the Blue Jays took off as soon as he showed up.

He didn't have any confrontations with the other birds either, but he thought about it.

Then I saw this, and thought now what, is he going to start hitting them with snowballs.

Lucky for the other birds it turned out to be a snow covered peanut. I now also finally see why he is called a red-bellied WP. We don't often get to see his belly.

Later on in the day, I thought someone was at the backdoor, only to discover it was him trying to hammer off some corn frozen to the deck table. It was funny, he would hammer away and it would go flying, then he would run after, like a cat.

This message was edited Dec 29, 2009 1:23 PM

I also noticed, getting the corn or peanut is only half the battle. He then has to take it somewhere and wedge it into something so he can break it into eatable size pieces. He often likes to wedge them in the end of branches that have been broken off from previous ice damage.

We just love to hear our fussy RBW...great pics!

you have one funny bad boy there. I haven't seen a male here for ages. the female is good spirited. She'll only get tough with the starlings fi they are on her suet!

Nice capture's chris8796! Really like the "snow ball" pic.

Chris, this is such entertaining information. Your descriptions of the behaviours are hilarious.

Enjoyed your series and the story along with it. Very nice pictures.

Nice shots Chris. I think all of them are pretty dominant, but yours' seems especially so. I have a pair of them in my yard and I do enjoy their antics.

Love this series Chris...our Red-bellies rule the yard and they get what they want when they want it!! I love that peanut feeder and looks like the birds do too!

Lovely series, Chris...I have a couple of RBWP's that come to my feeder and they love peanuts too but I've seen no run-ins w/any other birds though.
I am interested in where you got that peanut wreath feeder. Did you make it?

Thanks, I got the wreath at our local "wild birds unlimited". If you don't have a local store you can get one online.
http://www.shopwbu.com/products/productdetail/WBU+Peanut+Wreath+Bird+Feeder+%28green%29/part_number=3160/567.0.1.1.25206.42045.0.0.0?

Thanks, Chris, I'll check that out...Happy Birding

That snowball shot is funny!

I love the snowball photo too! That is one bird that really has a cute personality. Adorable photos!!