Normally the red-bellied woodpeckers are standoffish, and will wait for everybody else to leave the feeder before they show up, and will never ever visit seed on the ground. And normally I don't put seed on the ground/table because it encourages the squirrels. But the cold is record-breaking right now.
Cold enough I poured seed on the patio table, and the red-belly landed *with* a blue jay already there *and* another in the tree above, and juncos on the ground below.
(I also should track down my misplaced camera, because these are clearly not lighting conditions my phone camera is comfortable with, and of course optical zoom is always helpful.)
@gamehawk This is sooo strange. It's well above freezing here and raining on and off. No snow left to speak of and you are having a proper winter down there! https://mastodon.sdf.org/media/gJM13Y5OB6k3Rbh0GoE
@gemlog I saw a map somewhere of NorAm temps and there's basically a dividing line right down the middle of the continent: above-average temps on the west, below- on the east.
@gamehawk
I found this image repeated in several places after I read your comment:
(Also cold enough I poured some water in that birdbath and it was frozen over within 15 minutes. I should get a birdbath heater.)