Wild Woodpecker Workshop

Out birding on Thursday morning we happened upon this old tree which has clearly seen better days, has gained a lot of boring insects larvae and is now the chosen restaurant for the woodpeckers.

There are five or six woodpecker species in this part of the world, the largest being the bit-bigger-than-a-Crow Pileated Woodpecker that chiisels out distinctive letterbox-shaped holes in rotten wood to get at the fat, juicy grubs inside.

I very clearly recall my first encounter with one of these larger than life woodpeckers almost 20 years ago. It flew across our path in a wooded area and looked for all the world like a flying Pterodactyl.