Woody the Woodpecker was here

I used to love that cartoon, Woody the Woodpecker.

Woody first aired in 1957 and wrapped up his TV run in 1958, but I must have watched syndicated reruns for years after.  Woody was always involved in some kind of escapade and often times the script included nuggets that only the adults would recognize for more than just cartoon humor.

Flash forward 60 years, and a real life Woody the Woodpecker comes to my bird feeders quite often.

Today it was the female.  The distinguishing mark is a red stripe along the beak, clearly missing here, but very obvious in the male of the species.

These huge birds can really plow through a suet block.

Often, these large birds do a trapeze act to hang on to the suet log and still manage to peck away.

But today, she perched on the platform seed feeder right outside the living room window.

More than once, but never caught on film, I saw her long stringy tongue dart out to snag a sunflower seed.  It would happen in a split second.

She was also stretching her neck up and back, in some kind of display that I did not understand.

Maybe she saw a reflection in the window?

I'll never know.

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing her up close.

Her feathers are beautiful.

Under her chin, a little lacy effect of white, perhaps a nod to Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Just the tip of her ~2 inch tongue.

Posturing for some reason known only to her.

 I enjoyed her visit today, and the fact that it was a sunny, winter day, made it all the better.