Just As Important As A Woodpecker

  For all I know, others may not stop in their tracks to inspect the little things on a hiking trail or in the garden.  Maybe it is just me.  Maybe I find too many things interesting.  Maybe I have found enough peace in my life that other folks' drama is not to my liking.  Whatever the case, I have such a natural curiosity about the happenings around me that most things require noticing.  Just today while in the garden, a small feather suddenly drifted down from the treetops.  That feather demanded a good ten minutes of my time for no other reason than to admire its beauty.  The feather was recognized as being from one of the red-belly woodpeckers that frequent the area.  A pair nested in the nearby dead pine but the nest was raided by a rat snake before the little ones fledged.  Now, they are eyeing the black gum tree in hopes that their next brood will survive.  As I flipped the feather between my fingers, I thought of the terror that the parent birds must have felt knowing that there was not much they could do to fend off the four foot long snake.  But life goes on and they are, once again, pondering having a family.  My thoughts then drifted to how much I appreciate the woodpeckers that inhabit the woods and yard.  They have done their part in ridding the area of many insects especially those that bore into the trees.  Ahh, yes.  I put the feather back in place and continued with the clearing of the garden.

  There is a lot of time to think while pulling out old tomato plants and it occurred to me that folks just do not get outside enough.  Perhaps if they did, the world would be a lot nicer.  While out in nature pondering all of the beauty it has to offer, it is hard to condemn others and hard to think you are all important.  In nature, you are no more important than the woodpecker who lost the aforementioned feather. In nature, your opinions are just that...opinions and no one gives a flip about them.  (In reality, that is the way it is anywhere.  No one really changes because you think your opinion should rule.  Nope...doesn't happen.)  Critters don't have opinions and surely don't expect others to bow down to them.  They just accept what life gives them, don't pretend to be better than anyone else and sure don't get miffed about any of it.  That is the way it is here on the Bayou.  That is the way it should be everywhere.  Folks, to put it nicely, get up off your...umm...sofa and go outside.  Observe what is around you.  Examine things.  Ponder things.  And, for goodness sakes, stop thinking the world revolves around you and you alone.  Mother Nature could teach you a thing or two.  It would do you the world of good.

Not a Red Headed Woodpecker!

Today, I watched as a woodpecker busily attacked the branches of the popcorn tree (Chinese Tallow Tree). It would go from limb to limb searching the seed pods for the round, white "popcorn". Once it would find a filled pod, it would work at pulling out the seed more oft than not dropping it to the ground. If it was successful in getting the seed, off it would fly to the nearby pine tree. At first, I had no idea what it was doing, then a thought as it pounded against the pine tree..maybe it is using the pine tree to crack the seeds! I could not be more wrong. I watched curiously as it did this over and over again. Extract a seed..fly to the pine tree..work a minute..then pound, pound, pound..then back to the popcorn tree. I nonchalantly moved closer to the pine tree. Pretending not to notice the bird, I managed to get relatively close so I had a much better view. It grabbed a seed and flew just above my head. To my surprise, it was not eating the seeds at all! Rather it was storing them in the bark of the pine tree! It would work at tucking the seed well behind a loose flap of the bark and then pound on the tree as if hunting for bugs. I believe all of the pounding was merely a diversionary tactic. This smart bird was trying to make other birds think it was searching for food not hiding it! I watched for quite some time as I weeded a flower garden. This Red Belly Woodpecker must of made nearly fifty trips back and forth between these two trees. Storing up food for the winter..and they say birds don't think! Ha! This bird is smarter than a lot of people that I know!

The Red Belly Woodpecker is quite common here on the Bayou. I see quite a number of them around the feeders daily. They have black and white stripes on their backs and gleaming red caps on their heads. Now these are not to be confused with their cousins. Please do not call them Red Headed Woodpeckers as this might totally offend the true Red Head. The Red Belly does indeed have a bright red cap, but it is not a total red head. The Red Headed Woodpecker does not have the stripes on its back and is smaller than the Red Belly. Its head is totally covered with

red feathers. It is also not as common as the other and its population has declined in recent years due to deforestation. The Red Headed Woodpecker is known to store food for the winter, but I have never observed the Red Belly Woodpecker doing this. Ahh..you learn something new every day!