Red bellied woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) are very expressive birds and full of personality. Often they are playful and sometimes quite comical, but they have a serious side to them too. Especially when it comes to filling their bellies (like most of us).

Right now the trees and leaves are covered with insect eggs and larvae. Some are inside the trees, but a lot of them are on the bark. Instead of hearing a lot drumming, I’m seeing many of these guys and girls in all sorts of interesting positions pulling insects out of the ends of twigs, gleaning them from the surfaces of leaves, or ripping into cocoons.

This bird was very intent on pulling some sort of larvae out of the end of this dead oak snag. In the first photo, he is carefully watching the end of the snag to figure out the best way to get to them. In the second two he is eating whatever it was that he found. If you look closely you can see pieces of something in his mouth. Watching him do all of this just a few feet in front of me was a very interesting and rewarding experience.