365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Red-Breasted Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus Ruber
Day 126: I stepped back from close examination of a lichen and in the tail of my eye, caught movement near the base of an alder in a shady spot on the Bud Blancher Trail. By the time my eyes had settled on the tree, there was nothing to be seen but bark and bryophytes. I waited. Suddenly, on the opposite side from where I had initially seen it and about ten feet above, a little red head peeked around the corner. I watched in fascination as a Red-Breasted Sapsucker backed down the tree, tail leading the descent. As I maneuvered into position where I could get an unobstructed view, my little friend skittered out of sight again, reappearing ten feet up just as before. The backwards descent was repeated in shorter increments and not as hastily, and although the bird kept an eye on me to be sure I wasn't up to no good, it was not to be deterred from hunting up breakfast. When I'd got my shot, I moved on, leaving Sphyrapicus to his mining.
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