Woodpeckers

The plot of land next door to us has been sold; we think it sold a couple of weeks before Christmas. On the 23rd December, we came home to the sight of diggers next door, destroying every last cedar tree on the property. Which was a bit of a shock, quite frankly.

I think it was an even bigger shock for the local bird population, most of whom were quite happy flitting about over there. So it's no great surprise that we seem to have acquired some new feathered visitors to our feeding station, as there's a lot less trees now for them to go to.

We have seen and heard these Ladder-backed Woodpeckers mostly in the distance but now they like to come right up to the house. Mrs Woodpecker (black cap) loves the suet cake and can be seen pecking away at it pretty often. She lets me get really close with the camera, too, about 5 feet away.



Her husband wears a red cap and is a little shyer. He's also either less hungry or just isn't given much of a look in to the feeder.



They make a distincive tweet and of course the odd hammering sound gives their presence away. It's good to have them around.


Unrelated but cool: We had lunch today in the very new Fiddler's Hearth Irish pub in town. They sell cod and chips, served in newspaper, as it should be! Jolly tasty they were too :-)