Red-headed Woodpeckers? Not.

As travelers, we can't have any pets.  Well, we could if we bought a motor home like John wants.  But until then, nada.  So I've chosen to make lemonade out of my lemons, so to speak.  I've taken up birdwatching. 

I went to my little boutique shop, Wal-Mart, and bought a bird feeder, feed, and a poster of common birds.  Then I found a tree outside the kitchen window and hung it up.  I expected certain birds to flock to it, but was surprised to see a woodpecker on it.  I began to study these critters and discovered one that I thought was a red-headed woodpecker, but it apparently isn't.  She's actually a Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker.  (I know it's a "she" because the males have a black marking under the eye that this one doesn't have.)

From this angle it looks like it has a red head.

From this angle it looks like the red marking is on the neck.  See the long beak?  And it "drills" the ground like a woodpecker drills a tree.

This shows the true positioning of the red marking.

With her head turned away from me the marking looks like a heart.

From this angle it almost looks like a chevron. And look at the different markings on the chest and belly. 

 
 This shot hides the red marking altogether and makes her almost dove-ish.

But this one looks like a hummingbird because of the long beak, albeit a very LARGE hummingbird.

This one shows all of the different markings the best.

This one is just goofy!  I think it's a deer-in-the-headlights look.