Woodpecker woodwork

If you look very closely, you may note a hole in the decorative wood tiles on a neighbor's house. Up toward the peak, in the darkest shade. That's why I didn't really welcome the inspection of my woodwork recently made by the cute little woodpecker below.

Here are closer views of the sort of destruction that birds can wreak. BTW, I thought maybe those small holes might contain acorns; that that doesn't appear to be the case.

The woodwork on another neighbor's house has also yielded to busy beaks. Curiously enough, that single hole is so carefully placed that I did not notice it when I first opened the picture. I guess my eyes just assumed that the hole was part of the decorative scheme. Here's a final question: I've read that acorn woodpecker colonies maintain collective nests. Do you suppose that the neat round hole is merely an entrance into a wide open attic space for several birds to develop homes? I'll have to maintain a watch.

The half bird post

Something got into Blogger this evening; it hasn't accepted picture downloads since about 8:30 p.m. So there I am, minus nine images, all cropped and PhotoShopped. Ah, well, half a loaf and all that jazz.

In case you hadn't already guessed it, seated above is my favorite bird, the raven. Not an especially exciting portrait; it is there to remind everyone of your everyday raven pose. That way, you'll understand the picture below. Same guy, same seat. However, he is making his cawing squawk. Watch a raven sometime; you'll discover that he always swings his wings part way out when he caws. It's a curious sight.

I'm glad that my downloads included my acorn woodpeckers, because it's a reminder that two of my regular visitors today posted far better woodpecker photos from far away places (OmegaMom and The Red Squirrel). The birds above are exploring a neighbor's house as a potential storehouse for their nuts. Their MO is to peck a hole, then push an acorn into it, saving it for a rainy day.

This little guy must have had a flea or a mite that needed excising; shortly thereafter, he hopped to the top of the telephone pole to survey the world. Telephone poles and tree trunks (as well as parts of neighbor's houses) are often studded with acorns.

Acorns Aplenty

I've written before about the wonderful world of acorn woodpeckers. Pockmarked trees. Gossip groups. But I didn't believe my little Sony was capable of capturing a close-up of their acorns studding the bark of a pine tree. Until Tuesday when I did my first real walk since Christmas. The light on a big, nearby ponderosa looked right and it had a good supply of acorns, so I decided to test the camera's special close-up setting.

Lo and behold. Not only do the acorns show up nicely, but the bark patterns are also very cool.

The only problem: it's difficult to show how deeply the acorns are embedded. I need more shadows for that task. Examining the nuts and the bark, I wonder just how the bark is created and how the layers decide when to peel off. However it happens, the acorns appear to stay in place, merely getting deeper as the bark thickens. At least those which aren't too loose or eaten by a hungry woodpecker (or a clever raven.) Some must remain in the bark for years!

FYI: Firefly Forest, down in Tucson, caught neat pictures of a female acorn woodpecker close-up. Take a look here.

Birds of a Feather

As I've wandered the city looking this way and peering that way, I've come to realize just how beautiful the local flocks of pigeons are. In flight, that is. They swoop, they circle, they make sudden U-turns. In the process, the group aspect changes from black to white and to black again. Just as though MC Escher had invented the pattern.

As these pictures show, the birds aren't exactly in unison -- some wings are on an upbeat, others on a downbeat. But it's amazing how such a leaderless flock acts more or less as one. It's long puzzled scientists, too! The latest study I've seen reference to features arcane mathematical models.

Look at the choices available above -- why on earth would all the birds choose to land on the same wire?

And all face in the same direction while they're about it?

But they didn't all take off at the same time.

Now here we have not a flock, but five very social birds -- acorn woodpeckers who were making a fine racket one day as I was out walking. Where's #5? Look closely and you'll see a couple of tail feathers sticking out from behind the utility pole on the left. There's also a bare pine top I can see from my kitchen window where up to six woodpeckers regularly congregate; they are a communally nesting tribe. By the way, you don't have to look very hard to see acorn-sized holes -- and home-sized holes in that pole above.

After years of woodpeckers, insects and weather, this is the fate of wooden utility poles. No doubt the reason we're likely to see a lot more birdless iron up in the sky (below).

Sometimes I wist, but bird photography is not my thing! My little digital snap shooter can stop a flock quite nicely (maybe one out of ten shots.) But to really take pictures of individual birds, I'd need a lot more camera and even more lens -- that plus the requisite tripod. Couldn't do any walking weighed down under that gear! So, for great Arizona bird pictures, start up near the top of this page under the heading Naz Nature on the right hand side. Firefly Forest, Nature Songs and Wings of Nature all post some terrific Arizona bird pictures. That's why they're listed up there!

After the fact note: I just located the picture of acorn woodpeckers atop a utility pole that I wish I could have taken. Click here for a treat!

A Yellow Rose for GrannyJ

"Do you really want a yellow Henderson rose?" the friend asked.

"You bet!" I replied. And so he allowed as how he knew a couple of places where the yellows had expanded well beyond their property boundaries onto the public right-of-way -- and that he had been wanting one, as well.

We were on our way to his house, where wife had baked a Real Rhubarb Pie (not one of those contaminated by strawberries in an effort to lure younger generations to this old-time favorite.)

I had hoped to get a picture of a smallish pine limb they had displayed at one time -- a prime example of the acorn woodpecker's handiwork. It was absolutely studded with acorns; I've never seen anything like it, before or since.

Too bad -- the prize disappeared a long time ago. However, I did get a good look at a couple of big ponderosas, which had housed many generations of woodpeckers. The dang trees looked like teen-agers with terminal zits. From the ground all the way up the trunk. Note the white centers of some of the holes; those are acorns from many years back that have never been eaten, while the bark has grown far too many thicknesses for recovery.



Another favorite place for stashing acorns: under a shingle at the very edge of a roof; the choosy woodpeckers seem to favor bigger and better houses.

The picture below was taken while I waited for my rhubarb pie. As readers should figure out by now, I have a fancy for roses that are either wild or just one step from wild. But never had I seen such a tiny rose!
That's a table knife for size comparison. Each blossom (six of 'em in a cluster) measured about 1/2 " across.
Info, anyone?