Swede’s Photographs on Nostr: First Grip on the World This fledgling red‑bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes ...

First Grip on the World

This fledgling red‑bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) showed up in the spring, still carrying the soft, understated look of a young bird. Adult males and females both have a red cap, but the extent of that red—how far it reaches across the crown and down the nape—depends on the sex. If you look closely at the back of this youngster’s head, right where the neck meets the skull, you can just make out the faint beginning of that color transition.