Great Lakes and Land

Frequent winter visitors to my bird feeders at Fence Lake included chickadees, goldfinches, red-poles, nut hatches, and lots of sparrows of many kinds. We also saw an increase in woodpeckers. We spotted both Downy and Hairy woodpeckers all winter. One pileated woodpecker (the largest of Michigan’s woodpeckers) has made mince meat of several large dead trees on my hill side. It is digging for insects and grubs in the tree trunks, and creating large rectangular nest holes. He’s especially busy noisily drumming away each morning as the sun comes up. I suppose, to attract an “early rising” mate. He is the size of a crow and has fancy white stripes along the sides of his head and neck. He also has bright red feathers on the top of his head. Who can resist a red head??? I hope he finds his mate soon, so we can get a little more early morning sleep! Linda 04-16-09