Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes albifrons
Gila Woodpecker, male, 4/18/09, Pond at Elephant Head, Chino Canyon, AZ
Gila Woodpecker, male at nest, 4/21/09, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ

 Gila Woodpeckers are desert woodpeckers that often nest in Saguaro cacti in Arizona; here a male is visiting an active nest in Tucson in April. Above and
below are Gilas feeding on the skeletons of dead Saguaros at Bill Forbes' pond with setups for photographers south of Tucson in the Arizona desert.
Gila Woodpecker, female, 4/18/09, Pond at Elephant Head, Chino Canyon, AZ
Gila Woodpeckers, pair exchanging at nest, 4/27/10, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ

 This April 2010 pair is nesting in what may be the same Saguaro as was being visited a year earlier by the male shown in the second photo above. The female, carrying food to the nestlings, enters as the male leaves to forage, in the never-ending round of feeding hungry young birds.