Winter Cold, Talking Trees, and Pileated Woodpeckers
The cold weather kept me indoors for a few days, so I was eager to be outside yesterday. I decided to go for a hike on the south side of…
The cold weather kept me indoors for a few days, so I was eager to be outside yesterday. I decided to go for a hike on the south side of the Merwin Preserve. The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car is that the wind on the open prairie landscape was intense. Any exposed skin starts to burn within seconds of exposure. I was glad to slip into the woods and have the wind fade as I got into the trees. The first thing I noticed is that the trees talk when we get single-digit temperatures. They make a variety of sounds, including pops, squeals, squeaky doors, and bird-like trills. These sounds emerge in tandem and interact, there is an interplay between them. Sometimes the source of the sound is obvious, like when two tree trunks rub together. At other times it is hard to see where the sound is coming from.
I listened to the trees as I made my way down the trail with my feet crunching the snow. There were Juncos, Cardinals, and a Towhee feeding on the trail. They were particularly interested in a spot under a big Black Walnut tree where a squirrel was feeding. I think they were finding fragments of walnuts or insect larva that the squirrel dropped. A little further up the trail, I saw movement in the canopy of an Ironwood tree. I could tell by the fluttering and hover gleaning that a flock of Purple Finches was feeding on the seeds. I slowly made my way up to the tree as a flock of 12 finches foraged in the canopy above me.
The Ironwood seeds are encased in a papery husk and the seeds themselves resemble a large flax seed in color and shape. The finches can husk the seed and crack it in their bill. A Tufted Titmouse came into the tree at one point and I noticed that he had to repeatedly hammer on the seed to crack it. The shell is smooth and hard and it takes a surprising amount of force to open it up.
The finches eventually flew off to another ironwood tree and I made my way down to the Mackinaw River. The river appears black this time of year. There are two distinct zones of ice extending out from the bank that leaves a narrow channel of dark water in the river. At one point the water dove under a shelf of ice that spanned the channel and re-emerged a few hundred yards later. As I was watching the river a Bald Eagle silently floated by at eye level scanning for prey. Right after the eagle passed I heard a call off in the distance that made me pause. It was a woodpecker, but it sounded different than the typical calls I normally hear. I backed up and leaned against a tree trunk and scanned the woods on the far side of the river. I noticed a large dark bird swoop between trees and then the distinct call notes of a Pileated Woodpecker emanated from the woods. I stood still and waited hoping to get a better look at this uncommon bird.
He ended up flying across the river and landing in a tree about 50 yards away from me. He was interested in a short section of a dead branch that was about 6 inches in diameter. He hammered the branch from every direction and bark and wood flew through the air. He let me move closer and he kept feeding. At this point, I noticed that it started raining. I got the impression that the birds were intently feeding due to the impending storm and freezing rain. Apparently, the same dynamic plays out in the woods as at bird feeders. The birds are clued into the weather and they feed more when it is cold and a storm is moving in.