I was headed outside to take a bunch of photos with which I plan to do some SCIENCE!, but that won’t be the photo of the day, because this little critter was energetically banging on the side of our house when I got outside:
I think this is probably a female downy woodpecker. Though I could be wrong. Anyway, she jumped off the side of the house as soon as I opened the door, but obligingly posed on the branch of a nearby tree for a few shots before flying off to bang on something else.
And, really, how could that not be the photo of the day?
Yup, looks like a female downy to me as well. You can attract more with peanuts (as well as many other birds with peanuts). Put up a couple of peanut feeders and find a nearby feed store that sells “reject” peanuts in 30 or 50 pound sacks.
Here are a couple of female downy woodpeckers on one of our feeders:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kengi2000/21253986770/