Wandering – Pileated and Other Adventures

I spent time wandering yesterday. You might encounter adventures while wandering and I got lucky. Two ravens were “dancing” in the air: diving, twisting, and flying upside down together. The Winter Wrens were diligently foraging in the brush piles and there were Wild Turkey tracks in the snow close to home.

A Pileated Woodpecker ignored me as he enlarged his excavations in a cedar. I was able to get very close, eventually lying on my belly as I tried to get a picture clear of leaves and branches. The woodpecker kept an eye on me, but did not stop searching for ants in the tree. You can see the results here. One of the pictures shows just how long a Pileated Woodpecker’s tongue is as it probes the crevices of the cedar bark.

The buds on some shrubs and trees are swelling and the world is greening a little as the snow exposes the “ever green” plants. I am looking forward to more wanderings in a world slowly emerging from winter.

A male Pileated Woodpecker at the mouth of its excavation

A male Pileated Woodpecker

A male Pileated Woodpecker using its tongue to find food in cedar bark

all photos and writing copyright J.A. Siderius 2014.