ML539235551

Beobachtungsdetails

*Really cool experience today - a non-birding couple was staring up at a woodpecker, and when I tried to find it I was looking much too far - there was a male Hairy just 5 ft away on a tree right along the trail. It was very confiding, but extremely flighty - moving from tree to tree, tapping on them (appearing to be listening), and then moving to the next tree. After about 3-5 minutes of easy naked eye looks, it flew to a tree where evidently it had already been excavating, as there was a keyhole cavity that was quite fresh. It reached into the keyhole and started eating ants and possibly a spider/beetle. Soon it started to tap just below the keyhole, and then started peeling the bark off , exposing the fresh wood below. After some more tapping to test out the wood's strength, it starting hammering in earnest, creating a second keyhole cavity connected to the first (all while I was filming). This larger combined keyhole apparently attracted more ants, and it seemed to hit the mother load. It was very patient in waiting for more ants to come. After probably 10-15 minutes of excavating and feasting, and when the ants seemed to dry up, it hitched up to a higher branch, and rubbed it's bill side to side on the branch.