Always On Guard!

  Lightning seems to love striking the tall pine trees that dot the hillside and the marsh edge.  For the past few years, every summer two or three trees are struck and consequently die.  If the tree is situated in an area that can do no damage when it falls, it is not cut.  We are not in the habit of mucking around in marsh to gather firewood.  The tree stands until nature takes its course then it becomes part of the Bayou itself.  In the meantime, though, those dead trees house any number of critters.  I watch one tree in particular since it seems to be more active than others.  

  This morning as I slipped down to the marsh edge to check on Friend Owl, movement in the tall pine caught my eye.  The Redheaded Woodpecker was up early, too!  The bird seemed uneasy which I figured might have something to do with the daily visits from the owl but when I searched, I found no owl.  With that, my attention once again turned to the woodpecker and its possible cause of anxiety.  It was not long before another bird came into focus.  In another dead pine just down the marsh from the woodpecker's home, an Osprey rested from its hunt.  Surely this was not the cause of the woodpecker's woes!  As a fish-eater, that Osprey had no intentions of raiding the woodpecker's nest!  So I watched a bit longer.

  Nothing else came into view that could be causing the smaller bird to be upset.  Unless a snake had made its way up into the hollows of the tree, I have no idea why the woodpecker was standing vigil.  It did keep eyeing the Osprey as if it was the culprit making me think that earlier the birds clashed in some way.  Perhaps the Osprey wished to use the woodpecker's tree as a perch and the woodpecker was having no part of that idea or perhaps having little ones just had the smaller bird on edge. Woodpeckers are highly protective and territorial so either could be the case.  

  After a bit, both the Osprey and I left the scene so I imagine the Redheaded Woodpecker was more at ease....unless there was a snake. Then I am sure things were much worse.  Life as it is on the Bayou...always on edge...always wary.