The Craftiest Workshop

In the summertime there are lots of different species of birds around our property. Some days it is a cacophony of sound especially during mating season. At that time, the birds basically ignore me. I don’t bother putting out birdseed nor do I carry handfuls of shelled peanuts in my pocket.

Winter is a different season. The birds around our property have come to rely on me for their special treats. The chickadees love the feeder with the black oil sunflower seeds. They also enjoy eating shelled peanuts, each peanut cut into quarters, out of my hand especially on colder days. The Blue Jays love the challenge of an unshelled peanut. They come to sit on the railing in the morning and I put a few out. I also add a few to my ringed peanut feeder when I go out for a walk or snowshoe. When temperatures dipped below -20° earlier this week, I put out a suet cage with my homemade suet for the woodpeckers.

I guess I should say that the suet is for the Downy Woodpecker as, so far, it is the only one that comes to the feeding station. There is at least one pair that comes and hangs from the suet feeder for long periods of time. Unlike the Blue Jays, the Downy Woodpecker doesn’t try to scare off the chickadees as they arrive; both birds are able to feed at the same time.

I was able to get quite close many times this week while the Downy was at the suet cage. I would fill the peanut ring and it wouldn’t fly away. I was close enough to notice that the one there didn’t have a red swatch at the back of its head. Turns out, the female has no red and the male does. Another day the bird that came did have red so I know there is a pair.

The Hairy Woodpecker is a bit more elusive. It looks almost exactly the same but bigger. The only reason I know that we have both types is that I have seen them at the same time. The difference in size is very obvious. The Hairy Woodpecker likes to search for bugs high in the trees so it also makes it difficult to get a good photo.

The last of the woodpeckers that we have on our property is the Pileated Woodpecker. It has arrived in October each year but I don’t think it stays all winter. Some days when I am outside, I hear the “woka woka woka” call that it makes. When I first realized what it was, I made the correlation between it and the sound Woody Woodpecker used to make in the cartoon. On Tuesday, I heard the sound and realized it was in the trees behind our large shed. I set off on my snowshoes to investigate. It isn’t hard to find a woodpecker in winter. First there is the noise of the drilling which is quite obvious when there is no other sounds. Secondly, the Pileated Woodpecker has a large head with a red cap and it stands out against the snow. Once I found it, I started to approach the tree it was working on. It probably took me a half hour to bridge the gap from where I initially saw it to how close I got. Each step I took, the woodpecker would stop working and hop onto the side of the tree ready to fly off. Once it knew I wasn’t charging, it went back to work.

Each time I have been able to watch one of these woodpeckers work, they have been close to the ground drilling a dead log or, like this dead tree, drilling at the base.

I was lucky to get as close as I did and see the tell tale red stripe extending from its beak telling me that this was a male.

Last year I was out wandering and another male landed on a log very close to where I was standing. This photo better shows their size. I would say like a crow but with a larger head and wingspan.

I am wondering if the Pileated Woodpecker is just getting used to our presence and is less startled by us. One flew up from the ground next to us one day when we were out on a walk. The other day, while we were sitting at the table playing a game, it flew by the window. They are beautiful to watch flying by.

Woodpeckers are generally good for having around. They keep the wood beetle population down. They don’t seem to drill into healthy trees but only those that have aged out or are dying. The large holes they make looking for food become homes for other smaller birds or creatures. For me, I just enjoy watching them fly or peck trees. On a cold quiet winter day, hearing the consistent hammering helps me to remember I am not the only one out braving the cold.