I have a friend!

Right outside my bedroom window there is a tree and we can not figure out what it is! I think it is the first tree my dad actually doesn't know! Well, I heard a funny bird call. When I first heard it I actually thought it was a cat, but I could not see one. Finally I spotted the bird that was responsible for this funny call. It was a wooodpecker! I took a couple of pictures of it, and then we looked it up in my mom's bird book. It is a red-naped sapsucker. It is very pretty. The book also says they are not supose to be down here! So this one must have gotten a little lost. Poor guy.

The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America says this about it:

They Red-naped Sapsucker is very similar to the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but has variable red patch on the back of the head; spotting on back more clearly organized into two rows. On male, extensive red on throat penetrates the surronnding black "frame"; on female, the throat is partly red to almost entierely red on some birds. Juvenile is brownish over-all resembles adult by first fall exept for lack of black chest. Range: common in desiduous forests.