Nuttall's Woodpecker, for fellow blogger and naturalist Greg Fuller

On Friday as a Santa Clara County Open Space Authority docent,  I led a stroll along the Guadalupe River Trail levee in Santa Clara. Specifically, we met at Ulistac Natural Area, a birding hotspot due to the volunteer efforts in the California native plant garden, the reintroduction of oak woodlands on former cattle grazing land, and the river as a nearby water source. I had a good group of ten, including youth--who, by the way, ask really good questions on guided walks. Their questions usually send me googling and back to my nature reference manuals. June here is a time of dragon and damsel flies, busy finches, butterflies and skippers, and the joy and noise of many species of fledgling birds learning the ropes of birdlife. After our levee walk and native garden tour, I took a rest and then re-entered the old Eucalyptus grove. Active scratching in a nearby low tree caught my attention and soon I made out the "zebra back" design of Nuttall's Woodpeckers pushing their bodies up the tree branches with their strong and stiff tail feathers to steady them. They are endemic to California (specially adapted to the state and found nowhere else). I noticed the red patch on the male's head was just above his beak on the forehead and other woodpeckers I have seen had red crowns or their bright reds pushed back a little lower. He was a juvenile and I predict as he grows and molts his "red cap"will move up along his forehead and come to blaze atop his head. Go to major birding websites to hear their call and song, which is memorable and will help you to locate them in the branches above you. They are solitary unlike Acorn Woodpeckers whose flocks dominate in the oaks.

                                          http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/image/51230374
                                          (young Nuttall's Woodpecker)