Someone (and I am embarrassed to say I can’t remember who) posted on Facebook last week that they were tired of showing New England winter birds and needed to plan a trip to somewhere more exoitc. I replied that I was in the same boat with Maine birds (especially now that our winter Eagles have dispersed for spring, and our resident Snowy Owl has headed north) but, luckily, I already had a trip planned to Columbus Ohio for the weekend 🙂

Little did I know. I got out yesterday for about an hour between rain storms at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus to see what I could see. There is always a good variety of whatever is happening in Ohio at the moment at the feeders, and along the river walk and through the meadows, of the GIAC. And, really, what could be more exotic (at least exotic looking) than a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker? There was evidently a sap seep on the trunk of this maple, and the Yellow-bellieds returned frequently enough to feed there so that I could get set up for a few photos. What a truly stunning bird! I guess you could call it a backyard exotic if you are luckly enough to live where they live. According to the range maps, I should be able to see them in Southern Maine in the summer, but I have not seen one in years. And it looks like they are only in Ohio during migration, so they might be considered just slightly exotic at the GIAC.

Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent with digital 2x extender for 1200mm equivalent field of view. ISO 1000 @ 1/1250th @ f6.7. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.