We heard a woodpecker working on a tree on our walk this morning. Since the temperature was 18°, it was surprising. That temperature is cold but it has been much colder many days recently. We expect crows, cardinals, and blue jays around here at this time of the year but not woodpeckers. The sound we heard was a bird pecking at a tree to get bugs from the bark or inner layers. What sort of bugs or other nourishment can be found in such cold?
I realized that I really don't know much about being a woodpecker or any other wild animal, for that matter. If I were suddenly an errant member of the bark-pecking community, located in these cold north woods, where would I go for food? I don't know the first thing about how to survive as such a bird or as a rodent or deer or bear, yet those creatures, at least, some of them manage. I saw squirrels, one at a time, dangling acrobatically upside down to reach birdseed in one of my neighbor's feeders. So, maybe I could figure that out - try mooching off some humans. There seemed to be quite a line of fatter-than-average squirrels waiting their turn to fill up, so the competition or population might close off that avenue.
I have to conclude that gratitude and respect for our cupboards, refrigerator, freezer, furnace, roof, sweaters, hot coffee, hot water heater and stove are in order. I have to conclude that there are many kinds of knowledge and skills that I know nothing about and never will. I don't know how to be a spider and survive. I don't know how the neighborhood dogs spend so much time outside without shivering and going directly out on a long walk without hats or gloves, even barefoot, for crying out loud. I am older but I am not very wise to much of the world. I realized that I really don't know much about being a woodpecker or any other wild animal, for that matter. If I were suddenly an errant member of the bark-pecking community, located in these cold north woods, where would I go for food? I don't know the first thing about how to survive as such a bird or as a rodent or deer or bear, yet those creatures, at least, some of them manage. I saw squirrels, one at a time, dangling acrobatically upside down to reach birdseed in one of my neighbor's feeders. So, maybe I could figure that out - try mooching off some humans. There seemed to be quite a line of fatter-than-average squirrels waiting their turn to fill up, so the competition or population might close off that avenue.
