More explosions

 After a warm and sunny week, the weekend at Roundtop was a washout—until around 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon when the sun finally appeared. At that point, it was too late to do much exploring in the woods, and everything was still wet and dripping anyway. I did, however, retire to the back deck and spend an hour or so enjoying the feel of the sun on my neck.



I also saw the northbound migration of several black vultures, with a few turkey vultures that did not appear to be local adding to the mix. A red-tailed hawk that may or may not have been a local bird circled in a northbound direction, too. But the real drama came from the local pileated and red-bellied woodpeckers who were involved in a screeching match over something. 



The pileated woodpeckers circled around the cabin, causing an awful racket. They would disappear, still screeching, to the north only to circle around from the south and swoop through the forest again, still raucous. The red-bellied woodpecker mostly ignored the pileated woodpeckers, holding its ground on a dead limb. When the pileated swooped by, the red-bellied would toss off some woodpeckery and possibly vulgar retort, and the whole drama would begin again. Who ever said the woods are quiet?



More flowers popped up in the woods, with coltsfoot, which is normally the earliest of the blooms, finally making an appearance. My favorite local fern, still growing out of a crack in a boulder along the edge of the lane to the cabin, has begun to unfurl its fronds. The rue anemone (or is it a spring beauty?) is blooming as well. When the leaves are no more unfurled than these are, I can’t tell the two apart, even when I have an identification guide in my hands.



The trees are beginning to leaf out, even up on Roundtop Mtn. Down in the valley and off the mountain, there’s no “beginning” about the leafing. They are out and are a good 6 weeks earlier than they should be, to boot. 

Snow brings out the birds

More snow this weekend brought more birds to my feeders. Even the usual birds are less cautious or fearful when it’s snowing. My thought is that they go into a mode where they try to expend less energy, perhaps because they are less sure where their next meals are coming from.

I’ve seen eagles act like that, holding to their perches when I walk right underneath the tree they are on. Flying takes a lot of energy, and birds are willing to put up with humans or other activity that they wouldn’t ordinarily put up with when they are conserving energy. Since the big birds act that way, why not the littler ones too? And that inclination certainly makes getting photos easier!

The temperature has remained stubbornly below freezing for some days now. The wind that accompanies the temperature is what really bothers me. Yesterday, I wore long underwear, heavier pants and snow pants on my lower half. My upper half had a flannel shirt, heavy sweater and over top of all was my down parka. I still shivered whenever the wind kicked up, which it seemed to do all day. Inside the cabin I keep the temperature at 62 or 63 degrees during the day, which feels plenty warm and comfortable to me. Of course, there’s no wind in there.

In case you were wondering, my photo today is of a female red-bellied woodpecker, a regular and common visitor to my feeders. The species is not well-named, as even with a photo that looks more or less right at the bird’s belly, you won’t see red. The males have a rosy wash between their legs. That’s about as close to a red belly as any of them have. The woodpecker was named by someone holding a collected or shot bird in their hand. That’s about the only way you’ll see anything resembling a red belly on one.

More red-bellied woodpecker

I hope it comes as no surprise to anyone that I am posting a few more of my red-bellied woodpecker photos. I do promise this will be the last of them. I was lucky enough to have my camera handy on Saturday afternoon when the woodpecker landed, though I moved very, very sloooowwwly as I raised the camera because I was scared to death that the bird would fly before I snapped at least one photo.

For a few brief moments, however, the planets aligned and I had both a red-bellied woodpecker in one hand and a camera in the other. The camera worked, the auto-focus worked and the photos were clear. Miracle of miracles. I guess it's okay now if I never win the lottery, because I've won another kind of lottery, one that's nearly as rare.

I've studied the photos fairly intensively (as you might imagine) since I took them, and I think the bird does look a bit on the rough side, perhaps a bit worse for wear. Hopefully, a few hours at my feeders helped with that, but of course I will never know.

RBW = BFF

Isn't this a little cutie? That's a red-bellied woodpecker sitting on my glove as I took his photo. I don't know what possessed him to perch here. He didn't seem ill. Nor did he want to leave. He acted a bit "frozen" in the maybe-she's-a-predator kind of way.

In any event, as I went to put more food out for the birds this afternoon, I suddenly had a woodpecker in my hand. They sure can grip with those super feet of theirs. I finally set the woodpecker in the feeder and went back inside. But for a few moments--well, it's not every day I have a woodpecker in my hand.