White-headed Woodpecker Male - Wenas, WA

This was the male White-headed Woodpecker that I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Northwest of Yakima, Washington. I had already been once to the location in a previous year with no luck along any part of the dirt road. I had resigned myself to finding one of these uncommon woodpeckers this day by finding a mixed flock of nuthatches and chickadees.  Sure enough I heard the flock some distance away from the road, but patiently waited for them to come my way. I was rewarded some 20 minutes later with a look at this male some ways up the pine trees. Within the next ten minutes, the bird was foraging on the trunks of the trees next to the road within 10 feet of the ground. Not 10 minutes after that the bird flew across the road and to my surprise, a female White-headed Woodpecker showed up on the same tree chattering to each other. One bird was a lifer, but two put a cherry on top. You can tell the difference between the two from the red patch on the back of the male's head only.