red-bellied woodpecker

[Andrew]

Beach-Kingston Rd & Lee Ave.
On first glance thought it was a flicker then checked my bird book since I'd never seen one of these.
He seemed to be relishing the peanut dispenser.
Keeping him company around the other bird feeder - downywoodpecker, pair of nuthatches (white-bellied), purple finches, chickadees, cardinals, juncos, jays and sparrows. Interesting to see the pecking order (pun intended) as they compete fro a feeding slot on the feeder.

[mr.sharp-photo]

the pecking order is very strange.
i recently put up a bird feeder and i find it strange that cardinals seem to be the last on the pecking order.

[Andrew]

Sorry, my post wasn't very scientific - the order I listed them was not the "pecking order".
What sparked my comment was observing the sometimes quite aggressive interaction between the sparrows, purple finches and nuthatches.
The poor old nuthatches gamely putting up a defence but bullied-out by the finches & sparrows.
In contrast to when the sparrows/finches are absent and the the woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches all seem quite happy to share and tolerate each other.
Oh and of course the nuthatch is white-"breasted" not "bellied".