Bird Sightings

Over the past month I've had a series of bird sightings that were interesting. Of course I'm not counting the various finches in the backyard feeders. Along with the few hawks, flocks of migrating geese, the gulls blown inland by storms, I saw a woodpecker the other day. The last that I remember seeing any woodpeckers was about three years ago. That time our family was on a walk and we notice the little fellow in a tree that we were passing by. We didn't see him behaving like a woodpecker, hammering away at the tree with his beak. Rather, we first noticed him because of his brilliant red coloring on his head. The bird was unfamiliar and its identity as a woodpecker was only one of several options. Only later when we got home did we find out that that it was a woodpecker. Well this time, I was walking around the block at lunchtime, I heard the woodpecker long before I saw it. It was that distinct staccato which only woodpeckers make. It is surprising what you can observe if you keep your eyes and ears open.