Sighting verification

In checking out the identity of the blackbird I had glimpsed yesterday, I was delighted to watch a male red-bellied woodpecker, a species not unheard of on the island, but not common, either, and a lifer for me. This redbelly, which, by the way, did have some reddish streaking on its belly, was feeding on suet hung in a yard surrounded by woods at the corner of the highway and the 8th Line.

Nearby, besides plenty of chickadees and house sparrows, several tree sparrows were hopping through the trees. A male downy woodpecker was tapping on the larger of the trees.

And the blackbird? Its yellow eye, striped head, browny-grey head & breast, and darker back confirmed it to be a rusty blackbird.