A Very Woodpecker Week!

A friend invited me to hike some trails around St. Thomas and Alymer. While visiting Springwater Conservation Area, we encountered a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers!

Wood chips were flying as the male searched for insects. After he departed, I photographed the pile of wood chips at the base of his excavation activity.

A Hairy Woodpecker was flying and feeding near the Pileated Woodpeckers. Perhaps it was looking for the insects they missed?? This bird, although it appears similar to the Downy Woodpecker (below), has a longer beak than the Downy.

We enjoyed a walk at the Yarmouth Natural Heritage Centre with trails meandering through  200 acres of Carolinian Forest and looping around a 24 acre wetland. Apparently it is a great spot for spring warblers! We saw many Downy Woodpeckers including one little fellow who was scouting out "ball galls" on Goldenrod plants. 

The Goldenrod Gall Fly Larva will spend the winter inside the gall, protected from the elements but still susceptible to predators. The jagged hole in the ball gall closest to the Downy's beak, indicates that the larva has already been extracted from its winter shelter.

A little further down the trail, he opened another gall. Look closely at the picture and you can see his pink tongue reaching into the hole to grab the juicy larva. Woodpeckers have long, barbed tongues suited to grabbing insects from holes in trees.

A male Red-bellied Woodpecker sneaks in and grabs a 

peanut before the Blue Jays notice at our backyard feeder.