Saturday, May 19, 2012

Endangered Woodpecker

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Saturday morning I drove up to W G Jones State Forest to look for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker.


It didn't take long to find a nest hole. The woodpeckers tap sap so that it covers the bark below the nest and keeps snakes away.


Over the next 20 minutes I watched as first one parent and then the other returned with food.






Most times the parent would perch at the nest for only a few seconds and then fly off. Occasionally, though, one of them would climb down into the cavity before re-emerging and flying away.




At one point, both parents spent some quality time together exploring a nearby loblolly pine. 




I saw few other birds except a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, three Red-headed Woodpeckers, a couple of Eastern Bluebirds and a handful of Blue Jays. However, the native garden near the offices had several species of butterflies, including Palmares Swallowtails.





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