The original post disappeared.
The comments still exist in their own place. I can restore them when I get back.
(My new doctor called and told me to come back in. They want to do some more tests. I love taking pop quizzes. I bet know all the answers.)
14 comments:
I knew a guy who studied for his urine test.
Speaking of animal offenses, several days recently I have been awakened far, far too early by a rampaging morning woodpecker. I can hear him at different distances and when he's closest to my bedroom it actually vibrates the walls. This is a new experience for me and I am at a loss as to how to remedy the situation. Loud cursing and insults to Woody's family tree (ha) do not seem to work.
There will be a major award for the best "rampaging morning woodpecker" joke.
Additional research shows that the jackhammer drumming sound is not a feeding action but is used as a territorial warning and mating call. And that he may actually be using the house itself as a drum.
I did not know this.
Die Peckerwood. Die!
Whatever you do,don't engage the Wally Walrus Woodpecker Removal Service. Their Yelp rating is lower than the Acme Corporation.
You have to race outside with a broom and whack the wall he's pecking on or the tree or the other wall or the eaves and you have to do it over and over and over again till you outlast that malevolent hammerhead and drive him away. I know as I've been there...and lived to tell the tale!
This guy reduced a log we used as a bench by the firepit to a pile of wood chips in about ten days. I noticed our bench was disappearing and hoped it wasn't termites. I'm okay with a pileated woodpecker. Termites...not so much. This is the log. It was from a maple that I cut down in the front yard. My son and I rolled it out back to the firepit. My wife was amused enough to take some pictures of our feat.
That is an excellent chunk of maple you have there, windbag, and of course, when I look at it all I can think is "That would make some great bowls". That's just how I do.
With regard to the drumming, I'd hang out some peanut butter suet on a woodpecker feeder with a tail rest and see what that invites. We were surrounded by woods at our old house and here too at the new one, and our woodpecker feeder has had several varieties of woodpeckers (Downy Hairy, Red Bellied, and Flickers) visiting it daily in recent years, with very little drumming noted since putting it out. Prior to that, they were banging on the wood under the eaves and drilling holes in the storage shed.
As for the post, Inconsideration on the Whole is where I land, with the orange note writer appearing as inconsiderate as the care-less owners of the poop droppers.
Oh, Windbag, maybe hoping for a Piliated to show up is not something I want to do after all! So far our benches are still intact. Woodpecker feeding has required a LOT of suet buying on our end (by the case) but doing so is one of those things I enjoy.
This is the feeder we use, received as a Christmas gift. Except for some chew marks at the top, the squirrels leave it alone.
http://shop.wbu.com/p/wbu-ecotough-double-tail-prop-suet-feeder
The day the tree died.
I brought that home in the back of my Ranger back in 1990, when we moved into that house. It grew like crazy (the nature of maples). Almost every year we had a pileated woodpecker pecking away at it. We'd girdle it with aluminum foil. I forget where we heard that trick, but it did seem to discourage Woody from doing his thing. There were countless holes in the tree from the damage over the years.
When we first moved here, we lived in an apartment in town. One morning a woodpecker decided to tap into the telephone box just outside our window. Talk about a racket.
That was a great apartment. Only ten units, and all but two were retired people. When we looked at it, I told the landlord that we'd take it and asked how much of a security deposit he wanted. As he shook my hand, he said, "Son, if I thought I needed one, I wouldn't rent to you." Fair enough.
Something ripped our bird feeder down, and I haven't replaced it yet. My guess is a bear, since it was about 7 1/2 feet off the ground. Black oil sunflower seeds is all we put in it. I'd buy it by the 50# bag down at the feed store. We used to put out thistle seed to attract the gold finches, but they didn't eat much, so we stopped. They still came around.
This guy showed up one day. Easily the ugliest bird ever to visit. I think it's a cardinal.
That bird is so unusual it looks like a cartoon. Could it be a painted bunting? They're part of the Cardinalidae family with red bodies and green heads but they don't have a yellow beak.
After more looking, I found this, which goes along with your thought, windbag: http://www.birdsleuth.org/bald-birds/
The apartment story is a good one too, with guys like that as noteworthy and rare as a bald bird!
Our all-time favorite visitor. We had six in the yard at one time. A few were around for about three days or so. The only time we've seen them. It was a rare treat. Red-breasted grosbeak.
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