Colorful Lewis's Woodpecker

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I have following a pair of Lewis's Woodpeckers that have a nest in a snag in a large cottonwood on my friend's property along the Arkansas River near Canon City. I have taken a number of pics of the adults attending the nest, but since it is in the tree it is quite shaded and the pics don't do justice to the beauty of these very colorful woodpeckers.

Today I saw this woodpecker that had stopped on a phone pole while bringing food to the nestlings (I can hear them loudly now) where there was sunshine to bring out some of the colors. The beautiful red on the face and belly does come through pretty accurately in these pics as does the grey collar. Though the back appears black in these pics as it often does on these woodpeckers, the green gloss does not show through.

The top pic shows the bird with it's eyes open (important comparison for next post). The bottom pic shows the bird with this large piece of unknown food that it subsequently takes to the nest after I took these pics. SeEtta
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