The last time I was out at Goldhead State Park in Florida, there were these three little guys playing in a tree back towards the Big Lake. I videotaped them for a while, but I knew at that very moment I was gonna paint them. They were just to cute not to.

My mother used to have a set of them that came to her feeders daily and nested in one of her birdhouses. I think that was the first time I'd ever seen the ladder backs. I actually thought they were just baby woodpeckers.