Mutant
Dedicated to my friend, Winston, a man who shows more interest in birds than most men would. On a recent visit to his blog where he posted about Liz's mutant (I can't, I just can't) ... bird, I mentioned having a mutant woodpecker lurking around my yard. After today's lesson, you will no longer wonder why I find this unsettling. You'll just know. Woodpeckers are found throughout the world. Today let's deal with several found right here in North America.
First there's the Acorn Woodpecker (melanerpes formicivorus). His name says it all, but he's not the problem.
Nor is the Downy Woodpecker, busy doing his thing in the photo.
"Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain from the substantial pounding that the pecking behavior causes." (I wonder if the human male brain has similarly adapted).
It's not the Hairy Woodpecker, though I've seen more than my share of them in my day.
No, it's not the male Flicker, but I hear he's a special friend of all the female Flickers.
No, it's not even the Red Cockaded, one of the most interesting to be sure.
It's the scariest of them all. He's haunted my dreams since I was a child. He's a big, fat......
If anyone out there knows how to get rid of these or any other peckers lurking about out there, please, please let me know.
First there's the Acorn Woodpecker (melanerpes formicivorus). His name says it all, but he's not the problem.
Nor is the Downy Woodpecker, busy doing his thing in the photo.
"Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain from the substantial pounding that the pecking behavior causes." (I wonder if the human male brain has similarly adapted).
It's not the Hairy Woodpecker, though I've seen more than my share of them in my day.
No, it's not the male Flicker, but I hear he's a special friend of all the female Flickers.
No, it's not even the Red Cockaded, one of the most interesting to be sure.
It's the scariest of them all. He's haunted my dreams since I was a child. He's a big, fat......
Woody.
If anyone out there knows how to get rid of these or any other peckers lurking about out there, please, please let me know.
posted by Elsie | 5:32 AM
3 Comments:
Thanks for the "tribute". You left out the Pileated Woodpecker (see it in Wikipedia) which grows to as much as 20" long and provided the model for the original Woody. I had one of them in my yard when I first moved to Nashville. It would wake me every morning with very loud drumming (pecking) on a large tree stump outside my bedroom window.
BTW, I was surprised that you didn't show up with a brash comment on my "mutant pecker" post...
Winston, some things are best left unsaid. ;)
We have the green woodpecker here. They always look as if they're too heavy to fly and they're struggling to stay in the air.
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