A Red-bellied Woodpecker has been hanging around on our trees for the last few months. It's the first time I've seen a Red-bellied Woodpecker, at least that I know of, looking a bit like a flicker, but slightly smaller, or a sapsucker, but slightly larger. He has a handsome red band across the top of his head from beak back to neck, white feathers on the rest of his face, and a black and white pattern on his back. You'd think he might be called "red-headed" instead of "red-bellied" as his belly is mostly white, the red rather hard to see, but another woodpecker has claimed the "red-headed" label, having a head that's entirely red. I guess that gives him the right. One morning, not long ago, we were sitting in the living room drinking coffee, a lovely spring day, watching this Red-bellied Woodpecker climbing around in the maple tree. Suddenly a bang on the window. A loud, hard bang. My heart sank as I ran to the door expecting to see the woodpecker lying in the dirt with a broken neck or wing or outright dead. To my surprise he was alive, stunned and unmoving, but eyes open and head held up. Even his wings looked unharmed. I picked him up and held him gently in my hands cooing to him softly as I tend to do with animals. I was uncertain as to whether or not he was going to survive. He blinked several times, but still didn't move. I set him on the ground next to the maple and stepped away.
There is something so amazing about holding a wild creature, especially a bird, in your hands. A moment of recognition occurs, as if we see the real world outside ourselves, the miracle of wildness that exists outside the manufactured world we humans live in most of our conscious lives.
The woodpecker took about twenty minutes to regain his senses. He hopped up on the trunk of the tree. Stayed very still for many minutes, then slowly made his way up the tree, pausing along the way as if relearning what he once knew well. Happy ending. He is doing well. We see him frequently, a welcome guest in our yard. And yes, he does have a red belly.
