In my backyard, Northern Cardinals feel like a dime a dozen. I love to see them, but since I can see at least one almost every day (and hear more in the trees, if I’m outside or have a window open), I almost take them for granted.
Other common birds with less red on them are the multiple House Finches and the fewer Red-winged Blackbirds.
(As I type, there’s the cardinal again eating sunflower seeds on the box feeder. No surprise there.)
BUT…
Earlier this morning there was a flash of red on that box feeder that I don’t get to see very often. I haven’t been keeping written records very well, but the last time I saw this one may have been 2 years ago.
It was a Red-bellied Woodpecker (pictured above in another visit to my peanut feeder). He’s the one with the red on the top and the back of his head. You know, the one where you hardly notice any red on his belly.
One wonders what the namers were thinking back in the day.