As we walked along the dirt road on the west side of the lake I took a look to the west, where some old conifer snags have been left standing, and lo and behold: There it was. The bird was very accommodating, giving us great views as we slowly moved closer to the snag, sharing the one pair of binoculars we’d brought among the three of us.

It really is a gorgeous bird, one that reminds me why I found bird-watching so exciting when I first started doing it as a child. Here’s some video that Ventura birder Don DesJardin took of this same bird at Lake Los Carneros a few months ago:

Lewis’s Woodpecker from Don DesJardin on Vimeo.