These images are professional scans obtained from video footage shot through a window (courtesy Jamie Ford). These scans were made possible by Dawes Arboretum. Thanks also to Scott Albaugh, assistant naturalist, for bringing these images to my attention.
The bird depicted in these images is a female Red-bellied Woodpecker. Where the expected red pigment on the nape should be only yellow shows. For reasons that are not entirely clear, possibly a nutritional deficiency as has been shown in the House Finch, the occasional individual, will be lacking for red pigment that normally masks the yellow xanthins.
It is important to appreciate the occurrence of this oddity in the region. To the inexperienced, the appearance may offer confusion with the Golden-fronted Woodpecker of south Texas.
This individual visited a feeder in southern Licking Co. (central Ohio) from early January through March 2001.
An enlarged view
