Cropped, sharpened.

This is a male Downy Woodpecker, the smallest species of the Woodpecker family. It is widespread throughout the US and Canada, except in extreme hot desert and extreme cold climates. Males have a red patch at the back of the head, but females are only black and white.

This little fella visits on a regular basis at my suet feeders usually several times a day during the fall and winter. Somewhat challenging to get a decent photo of him. He is busy, agile, quick and kind of herky-jerky on the tree trunk and branches. He goes up, down, left, right and appears to play peekaboo often. Hiding behind the tree trunk, then poking his head out for less than a second then gone again.

I captured one image of it pecking the trunk with its eyes closed upon beak impact then reopened them. Sooo... I Googled it to find the reason for that behavior... The woodpecker must close its eyes as its beak hits the tree or its eyeballs would pop out! It also protects the eyes from debris and splinters while pecking. Good on the woodpeckers, right?!?