I'm thinking the bird may have been a woodpecker, though it wasn't pecking while I was watching it.   The beak looked sort of like a woodpecker beak. And I'm not sure, but I think it had a bit of red on its head (though I didn't get much of a look at the top of the head, viewing it from below).

So far, I'd say it looked a lot like this
Red Shafted Flicker Woodpecker IF it had the red on the head. That is definitely what the breast looked like and the side of the wings.   It seemed to be a bit more slender and elongated in shape, with the head a bit smaller, but that may have been due to the bird's posture and the angle of view.
This woodpecker looks more like the shape, but I don't recall any red on the under side of the tail, nor do I specifically recall the dark feathers at the top of the breast.

It could also have been a pileated woodpecker but it wasn't as drab as the birds pictured here.   

The shape of the bird looked more like this , at least re the proportions of the head and body, than like most of the pictures of woodpeckers I've found, but again, I was mostly seeing the bird from below or sort of from the side and below.

I'm inclined to say it was a red-shafted flicker woodpecker or at least something very similar to it. Anyway it was a gorgeous bird!