A morning at South March (part 1)
July 13th, 2014
This is it. A grand finale of sorts.
This post and the following few will contain the photos I took the daythe
music my camera died. It was a beautiful spring morning at South March
Conservation Forest, with songbirds and wildflowers abounding, and I'm happy
to say I captured much of it before the camera breathed its last. Once these posts
are done, there will be a lull of at least a few months. So enjoy!
My day began at sunrise with this fellow, a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, at the entrance gate. To recap, sapsuckers are specialized woodpeckers who drill rows of tiny holes in living trees, then lick up the sap that wells out--they are not just a joke insult used by Yosemite Sam against Bugs Bunny :-) They're comparatively shy woodpeckers. Only in the early morning, I think, could I have chanced to see one in such an exposed location. He began to play hide and seek with me, as woodpeckers do (skittering around the post to try to stay out of my sight), and eventually flew off.
It was the sound that had announced him: a very loud, resonant clanging. Classically, woodpeckers drum on trees to declare territory, but if they can find something noisier to drum on, they might use that instead. This cheeky fellow got good results by banging on the "stoop and scoop" sign at the trail entrance!
July 13th, 2014
This is it. A grand finale of sorts.
This post and the following few will contain the photos I took the day
My day began at sunrise with this fellow, a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, at the entrance gate. To recap, sapsuckers are specialized woodpeckers who drill rows of tiny holes in living trees, then lick up the sap that wells out--they are not just a joke insult used by Yosemite Sam against Bugs Bunny :-) They're comparatively shy woodpeckers. Only in the early morning, I think, could I have chanced to see one in such an exposed location. He began to play hide and seek with me, as woodpeckers do (skittering around the post to try to stay out of my sight), and eventually flew off.
It was the sound that had announced him: a very loud, resonant clanging. Classically, woodpeckers drum on trees to declare territory, but if they can find something noisier to drum on, they might use that instead. This cheeky fellow got good results by banging on the "stoop and scoop" sign at the trail entrance!
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Mike
July 14th, 2014 at 8:32 am
Nice catch with the photos... they do tend to hide most of the time!
I recall hearing one do that at some point!