I had an appointment down in the Twin Cities late this morning. Thus, I decided to leave early enough to both hike the Fish Lake Nature Trails (Google Maps GPS Link) in East Bethel (a northern suburb on the fringes of the metro) and look for birds. These trails and their Savannah habitat are noted for Red-Headed Woodpeckers. If you are coming from the north and heading over to Minneapolis (not St. Paul), the detour will not add much time to your drive, but the birding may delay your arrival! 🙂
The University of Minnesota manages this habitat for research, which limits these area one may hike in the Spring & Summer, but a visit is till worth the price of admission (free). Three volunteers were doing a formal bird count for the U of M, but those were the only other folks enjoying the beautiful morning.
I was dumbfounded to actually find a fight taking place over one female Red-Headed Woodpecker, and then to actually get photographs of the couple mating. Enjoy!!
Red-Headed Woodpeckers Mating
The Female Having a Time Out Afterwards!
Red-Headed Woodpecker Take-Off and Flight
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Holy cow! Red Headed Woodpeckers mating! Wow! My wife and I are in Georgia searching (okay, not very diligently) for the last of the Ivory Bill Woodpeckers. But 365’s photos of Red Heads mating? Priceless.
Love ‘em and leave ‘em (a.k.a. A one tree stand)
amazing pictures of beautiful birds. wow!
How do you determine male vs female? I have a pair and one extra hanging about this year.
The only reason I could tell was the female had a red head with some brown on it. Thus she was recognizable.
Thx. I’ll get closer with my best binocs. Happy Spring.
Isn’t the female also a first year bird, i.e. last year’s babe, due to the brown on head as well as scapula area on shoulder?
Nancy … you are more than likely correct. Unfortunately I normally do not get to see many of thse gorgeous woodpeckers, but maybe that will change this year. See today’s post!
😍