The sap is running.

Emil Baumbach

One of my favorite woodpeckers just arrived in the Chicagoland area and I couldn’t wait to go out and photograph it. This male is feeding on sap he drilled an hour earlier. The birds will go back to trees that have been drilled earlier time and time again and if you wait long enough you’ll get a few good photo opportunities. The bird in this photo is puffed up showing off his beautiful plumage.