Drilling for Dinner

Drilling for your dinner might give you a headache, but it’s the way of the woodpeckers.  Two types of birds in this family that are especially helpful at keeping the insect population down are the Northern Flickers and the Hairy Woodpeckers. 

Flickers are frequently seen digging into the lawn with their beaks.  They’re a tawny brown with black bars and spots, and sport a bright red bar on the back of their necks.  Their nests are made in hollowed out tree trunks usually found in old growth forests.  Ants are their favorite food and they’re equipped with especially long, raspy tongues ideal for capturing them.

Hairy Woodpeckers are usually seen clinging to tree trunks.  They’re black and white and are slightly larger than the similar Downy Woodpeckers also found in Nova Scotia, with a longer beak and the absence of a black bar on their white tail feathers.  Males of both species have a red dot on the back of their heads.  They excavate their nests in live trees.  They will drill for insects year round, dining on the larvae found under the bark of trees during the winter months.  Feathers over woodpeckers’ nostrils prevent them from inhaling the wood that’s flicked off during the drilling process.

If these woodpeckers didn’t visit my yard, there’d probably be a lot more ants and other insects around.  The sound of their persistent drilling and drumming is most welcome.

Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head and keeps pecking away until he finishes the job he starts.

~ Coleman Cox

For more information on Northern Flickers, see The Flying Anteater.

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The Persistence of Grass

There’s something comforting about seeing small and simple plants grow down the middle of my driveway.  I get the same feeling when I see grass growing through cracks in the sidewalk.   To me, these are testament to the power of small things and reminders of man’s inability to conquer the natural world. 

Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
~ Hal Borland

Due to its simple form and presence at our feet, it’s all too easy to dismiss the power of grass.  Yet, its strength is in its numbers and its ability to persist despite being trampled on over and over again.  Below, the shadow of a fox trail appears in the grass behind Rainbow Haven beach.

Grass changes with the seasons and makes no futile attempt to hold strong against the wind.  It knows its limitations.  In the winter, it hunkers down under the snow and quietly waits for spring.  When sunshine and rain permit, grass seizes the opportunity to grow to great heights in just a short amount of time, confounding those tasked with mowing it down.

It’s most beautiful when at last it goes to seed. In the early morning light, the grass in the photos below looks like a magical mist rising in the forest.

Growth begins when we begin to accept our own weakness.
~ Jean Vanier

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