I was minding my own business, but so, perhaps, was Harry the Hairy.  He was drumming repeatedly on the cracked utility pole next to our house.  His business was to wanr off any other male Hairy Woodpeckers within drumbeat distance. I was busy digging out St. John’s Wort plants that needed to be moved.  It was hot, sunny and the glare was uniquitous when I looked through the camera.  But his drumming and his hanging out could not be ignored.  This Hairy was near and not close to taking off. TRheyare not all that common around here.  I usually see only DOwnys and Flickers in our yard.  RB Sapsuckers a few times in the fall. Here are the photo results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hairy is found over much of the American woodlands.  From Alaska down into Mexico and further south he can be found in every state except Hawaii.  Though he’s rare in parts of the southeast including Florida.  He is Picoides villosus, a cousin of the Downy, the Nuttall’s, the Black-backed and numerous other smallish woodpeckers.  A crucial ID field mark of this woodpecker compared to the Downy and Nuttall’s: his beak is distinctly longere than the diametrer of his head.  This is pretty clear in the upper right-hand picture of this set.