a woodpecker kind of day...

Be grateful for luck.  
Pay the thunder no mind - listen to the birds. 
And don't hate nobody. 
~Eubie Blake


sunday afternoon

we followed the familiar 'tap-tap-tap'

of a woodpecker digging for bugs.

sam spotted this male Pileated Woodpecker

hard at work on the dead branch of an oak tree.

these birds are the largest of the florida woodpeckers. the size of a crow.

the 'red moustache' going back from the beak means this one's a male.

'pileated' means 'crested'...no explanation there!

our property is like a woodpecker heaven. 

dead trees. fallen trees. fallen branches.

there are so many trees here that are just covered with woodpecker holes!!

i decided to take a couple of movies...very short...

sorry if they're a little shaky...but with my neck craned upward...arms out stretched...

UGH! i might need to invest in a tripod...

i have TRIED and TRIED to upload my videos from my computer...no luck!!

i googled the problem...i went to blogger help...over and over...NO LUCK!

((so frustrating!))

so, i finally decided to put them on YouTube 

and then embed them. hope this works.  oh well.

in this first 10 sec video you can see the puffs of sawdust!

in this 21 sec video you can hear him hammering away at the limb!

whenever i see these woodpeckers...

i think of the old WOODY WOODPECKER cartoons.

Woody's got to be a Pileated...

with that impressive crest on top of his head!

we have two other woodpeckers that hang out here...

this is the most common...the Red-Bellied.

i took this picture back in May. a yellow rat snake

climbed up this tree and crawled into the woodpeckers nesting hole...

the frantic parents were flying circles around the tree...

you can check out pictures of this unfortunate incident here: snakes & birds post.

(but that's just nature at work...)

this past year we were really surprised to see

the (more uncommon) Red-Headed woodpecker.

we've never seen this one in the yard before!!

well...that's all folks...

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.

Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough,

to pay attention to the story.

~Linda Hogan

happy autumn!

stay cool. enjoy your journey.

laura :]