Holes in the Trees
While you may know your birds, do you know your holes? This handy Birdwatcher’s Field Guide to Holes in Trees can be very helpful when inspecting trees for the presence of invasive insects. If you are out this holiday weekend birding or doing other fun outdoor activities, be on the lookout for these different holes in the trees around you and report any that look suspicious as Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week is nearing a close.
Read MoreBlack-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus)
This is a Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus), and a transition male that is close to full adult breeding plumage. Even more amazing than catching this individual was discovering a nest soon after! For a week our crew got to watch a male incubating two eggs at eye-level. It was using an abandoned woodpecker nest cavity as its nest. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Costa Rica while on assignment for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History with The Marvelwood School.
Read MorePileated Woodpecker Holes
These are some extra fresh Pileated Woodpecker holes! That wood looks like it has been cut very recently, and it certainly looks like a professional job. Whenever you see a dead or dying tree in your yard please try to leave it there if possible – if it is not infected with something such as Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, or a particularly dangerous falling hazard to people. It will end up serving a host of species that depend on these decaying plants for food, shelter and nesting. Cutting even these trees down solely for aesthetic purposes is robbing the environment of a vital component....
Read MorePileated Woodpecker Visit
I was thrilled to add this Pileated Woodpecker to my January 2015 bird list as I saw it yesterday in between bouts of snowfall. It was pecking its enormous bill at some of the dead bark and holes on this tree, hoping for some insects and having a taste – you can see its tongue in one of the photos! I ended up with all five expected woodpeckers at home to start the year with the others being Downy, Hairy, Northern Flicker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. My “best” find this January was probably still the two Orange-crowned Warblers I enjoyed on New Year’s Day. What was...
Read MoreWoodpeckers of Newfoundland
Here’s a Throwback Thursday of a different sort – five woodpeckers from the Birds of Newfoundland by Roger Tory Peterson. Can you identify them all? Clockwise from the top we have the Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Black-backed Woodpecker. If you are fortunate enough to have a yard where you can see them all that would be extremely impressive!
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