A Strange Woodpecker

I believe you have stumbled across the green woodpecker. This is indeed an exciting day, since green woodpecker sightings are becoming a bit of o rarity.

I only wish I were there with you, Phoenix, to share the joy -- to feel the love.

My favorite green woodpecker story involves the time I placed a small tape recorder in the hole of a tree and then waited, comfortably, on my porch, for the wildlife to approach.

Not more than 35 minutes passed by when a small green woodpecker landed on the tree in question and began to peck around in the bark, presumably for tasty insects.

That's when I began to speak into the microphone and my voice carried from the hole in the tree.

Here woodpecker! Here woodpecker! A little closer now!

The woodpecker was momentarily startled at the sound of my voice and lifted his wings as if to take flight. I held my breath. Then, curiosity got the best of the woodpecker and he warily approached the hole and peered inside.



"BOO!!", I shouted.

I still chuckle at the memory of that bird's head snapping back and the way he raced out of there like someone had set him on fire.

I would like to thank Phoenix for starting this thread. I had forgotten that I still had thirty pages to read from Heinz Sielman's classic MY YEAR WITH THE WOODPECKERS



Heinz spent an entire year living in decaying trees with woodpeckers. He used a hang-glider to soar from tree to tree and and busted his nose 35 times during the course of the year as he tried to emulate the woodpeckers. They finally accepted him as one of their own but were visibly upset by all the blood on the tree bark. A very good read and an exceptionally poignant story. I would suggest this book to all A2K members.

Sorry, Gus. If it were the green woodpecker, he left his red hat at home!

I am putting that book on order with my library, posthaste!

Today's woodpecker story involves the acorn woodpecker. The acorn woodpeckers will use the same tree over and over for the storage of their coveted acorns. Sometimes generations of these woodpeckers will use the same tree. The tree is called the granary tree, for obvious reasons, and once all the holes are filled with acorns squirrels and jays will move in to attempt to collect an easy meal.

The acorn woodpeckers join together, as a band, and make valiant attempts to dissuade the invaders from eating their stored food.

I have always had a fond place in my heart for the acorn woodpecker.

I am going to enclose a photo of an acorn woodpecker hidden in the granary tree. Only a trained eye like mine would be able to spot the cleverly hidden woodpecker, but I expect some of the A2K members to eventually find the "chameleon of the woodpecker world" as I am so inclined to call them.

Have a try. Can you spot him?

Awww..........How cute!

That little pecker really did a number on the tree!

It looks like this is turning into our own private thread, Phoenix. No one seems to bother us here. So, whenever you want to hang around and discuss woodpeckers.... I'll be here.

wow, I've never seen you that excited gustav.

I started a thread on woodpeckers a few weeks back. I don't recall Gus visiting it just once. I realize now I should have PMed him and asked if he would honor me with a courtesy post, but the chance has long slipped by. I guess I don't have the touch with woodpeckers.

So, Edgar, do YOU know what that woodpecker was? If I don't find out, I will get very grumpy! :wink:

I don't know Phoenix. There are something like 14 kinds of woodpeckers in Texas.

Edgar-I saw Road Runners for the first time in Texas. What a thrill. Do you see them very often where you are?

I haven't seen one in about three years.

Several years back I was talking to my friend, Barney Higgins, down at Joe's Tractor Repair and Bagels, and Barney nervously glanced around since there were so many customers in hearing range, and said, "Gus, can you step outside for a minute? I need to discuss something with you."

So we walked outside and went behind Joe's enormous steel building. It was quiet in the back. There were a few garbage cans and Joe had put a picnic table out there for his employees to use on their breaks.

Barney and I sat at the table and he leaned towards me and said, "Gus, I believe I saw a Dryocopus martius this morning. Out by my ravine, near my brush pile. It just sat there, on the ground, and stared at me. Then it flew away. I din't want to tell anyone because obviously that is a European bird and there has never been a sighting here in the States. The townpeople would think I was nuts if I made such a claim."

I was stunned. I said nothing for a few minutes, then let out a low whistle. "Whew", I said, "Dryocopus martius. The legendary Black Woodpecker. I think I have a picture of one here in my bib overall pocket, Barney. I want you to examine this carefully and tell me if this is for sure what you saw."

Barney nodded in agreement and waited anxiously while I dug through my pockets. I felt the well-worn photo deep in the left corner of my upper left pocket and brought it into the sunshine. I held it up for Barney to see...



"THAT'S IT!", Barney screamed. He then rolled off the picnic table and collapsed on the ground. I leaned across the table and looked down at him. Staring up at me, his eyes moist with tears, he said, "Gus, I am so happy to know that I am not insane."

I smiled and said, "Barney, did you know that the black woodpecker is almost the size of a crow and that they are now leaving their central European haunts and some of them have been spotted in France and are expected to make there way toward England soon?"

"No, Gus, I didn't know that. What about the one out by my place? How do you explain that?"

"Sometimes it's best to let these things go, Barney. C'mon, let's head back inside."

I reached my arm toward Barney and he grabbed it and pulled himself up. Together we walked around the building back toward the main entrance.

A small butterfly danced momentarily in front of my eyes and I smiled.

Gus- There really IS a dryocopus martius. I am so ashamed. To think that I had doubted you!


http://www.birdguides.com/html/vidlib/species/Dryocopus_martius.htm

I've been searching for the woodpecker of which Phoenix speaks, but, for the life of me, I can not find such a creature. I leaned back in my chair, pushed aside my volumes of bird books, shut off the computer, and massaged my forehead.

What the hell is she talking about, I wondered. I do not believe such a bird exists.

I thought back to what she had said when describing the bird...


This afternoon, as I was walking, I spotted a small woodpecker. He had a black needle shaped beak, was mostly gray, and had white epaulets on his wings. In the middle of the white, there was a stripe, that might have been dark blue or black.


But then a light went off. I said to myself, "Gus, this is Phoenix talking. Try to picture the bird as seen through her eyes and then adjust the image for the normal human and you will probably have the bird."

Ok, she said she was walking and that normally means she's out to sneak a drink. She was probably having a pull on her half pint of Jack Daniels when she saw the bird. She claims the bird was gray, but the colors were probably muted by the effects of the alcohol. A small bird, according to Phoenix. Hell, the bird was probably a hundred yards away and she thought it was on a nearby branch. The stripe she talks about was probably a telephone line between her and the bird.

No, Phoenix did not see a woodpecker. What she saw was a Roseate Spoonbill....





I have long prided myself in my keen ability to break down personalities and solve life's little mysteries.

The identification of the Roseate Spoonbill was just the latest example of my prowess.

Please..... no applause.

The reason I came to this thread in the first place was because after an agonizingly long period of time the thread had gone unanswered. I bet forty five minutes ticked by.

I had no idea what Phoenix was talking about concerning her mystery woodpecker, but surely someone must. I thought for sure someone would come to Phoenix's rescue and give her an answer. Nothing. Nobody showed.

After about fifteen minutes I started getting angry. "C'mon people!" I muttered, "Surely someone can help this woman out? After all she has done for this site and you bastards and bitches leave her hanging!?"

Another fifteen minutes ticked by.

"C'MON YOU BASTARDS!!! SOMEONE ANSWER HER FRIGGIN QUESTION!!!", I screamed in frustration.

Finally, I could watch Phoenix suffer no longer so I jumped in with a fairly intelligent guess as to the identity of the mysterious woodpecker.

My mission now is to keep this thread alive until we have the answer. Until Phoenix looks at a picture on the screen or read's someone's theory on the bird and replies, "Yes, that is the bird"-- until those words are heard--- this thread shall never die.

There are other species of birds, other than woodpeckers, that climb up tree trunks. ?????