Beak to beak

I was looking out the upstairs window when two red-bellied woodpeckers flew up in tandem, touched beaks and then flew back down below the roof of our deck. I never saw such a thing before. A fight?

We have quite a few varieties of woodpeckers in our area and LohMan and I do our part by providing them with trees. I've seen a pileated woodpecker on rare occasion. The noise one makes while hammering at a tree is as impressive as the bird itself. And the red-headed woodpecker is startlingly beautiful.

Beth Bergman is a professional photographer in New York City who has magnificent photos of birds on her blog. You might enjoy browsing there.

UPDATE in 2015: Now that I am retired, I see pileateds in our yard several times a day, year 'round. They aren't "rare" but they are awesome!