This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

March 2, 2014
Birdwatching Dot Com
Fairfield, Iowa

Here's a male hairy woodpecker. The red badge on his head is only feather-tip deep. The base of each red feather is drab and colorless. The red color is metabolically expensive, so it's used only where it will show. It goes where it advertises the male's credentials, telling the female that he's healthy and that he has a good diet and a good territory. That he's a worthy partner.

Choose me! it proclaims. Choose me!

© 2014 Diane Porter

See the female hairy woodpecker here.

—Diane Porter

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