Gosh, I write nothing for weeks on end, and suddenly I have three posts in one day!

A couple weeks ago I posted about a red-bellied woodpecker that I saw in a cavity down the road from my house.  Well, it's been there every single morning Toby and I have gone out for our walk.  This morning I made a point of bringing my camera and the big lens.  I should've brought the tripod along as well, for I have a hard time holding the camera steady with that lens, but all things considered, these didn't come out too badly.

I give you my neighbor, the red-bellied woodpecker:



As you can see, he has some "stuff" in his beak.  It could be that he is excavating the hole - he's got stuff he's spitting out almost every time I see him.  But, as speculated before, it could be he's just roosting in this cavity - they do that.


And here you can see both the upper story door as well as the lower story door.  Is this indeed a duplex, or are there two holes into the same cavity?  Without a Treetop Peeper (camera on a pole), a ladder or climbing spikes, I will never know the answer.

Tuesday, while we were enjoying lunch at work in front of Bird TV, we watched a chipmunk scamper around the pond, past the dripper, under the log and disappear around the building.  A chipmunk in early Feb, when the temps were in the 20s?  Very odd...very odd indeed.

This morning, while walking the dog, I heard the call of a red-bellied woodpecker.  I could here it, but not see it.  While T was taking a pitstop, I looked around and saw a snag among the roadside trees.  At the very tippy top was a perfectly round hole.  Hm, thought I.  I wonder if the bird is in there.

Moments later, there was a flash of red, the rattling call, and then it was gone.  Another flash of red, below the hole I spotted, and it too disappeared.

It turns out, there was/is a second hole maybe eight inches below the first one I spotted, and the woodpecker was in there.  Every few seconds it poked its head out and "spit out" debris, and sometimes it would call.  Could it be housekeeping, prepping a potential nest sight for this spring's brood of eggs?  Or is it just tidying up the detritus that collects from living in the hole during the winter?

Do woodpeckers roost in cavities when they don't have a nest and aren't raising young?  I would think so...don't really see them as perch-on-a-branch-at-night birds.  But, spring isn't too far away now, so maybe this bird is just getting ready.