There is a rotten stump in the back yard. It must have been a majestic tree once upon a time but the remains were an eyesore and detrimental. The vestiges of the decayed tree stood up like ragged mountain peaks at least eight inches from the surrounding lawn. Not mowable.
I dug and pulled up what dead-wood I could. Most of the large roots webbing into the lawn I was able to pry up with the shovel and discard. But the center peaks remained intact no matter the amount of prying or pulling exerted. Instead of bemoaning the fact that my lawn would not be perfectly flat, I placed bricks on edge in a circle around the stump remains, adding good soil to the top edge of the bricks and even placing soil over the stump peaks. It became an herb, plus a few vegetables, garden. One morning in early spring, I noticed that there were holes in the soil close to the center of the garden. Herbs had been broken. It was a mystery. Not long afterward, on a cold spring evening, a colorful sunset drew me to the back door. Clouds of dusty purple-tinged with peach, orange and pink. How glorious to live on a planet of ever-changing beauty! It was a quiet evening with no people outside in the chilly air. Suddenly, a pileated woodpecker gracefully swooped into the herb garden and began his carnage. After seeing the woodpecker fling a part of some Greek oregano aside, I knocked on the door. He, intent on finding a meal, was unaware of the noise. It wasn’t until he had eaten at least three tasty insect morsels and a vehicle stopped on the back street that he flew away. I have seen him twice since then. But he is shy and as the weather has warmed and people are enjoying the evenings outside, the pileated woodpecker has not returned. The pileated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker native to North America. They are insect eaters, pecking rectangular holes in old and dead trees to find carpenter ants, their favorite meal. However, they do eat termites and other insects as well as berries. A pair will stay in one area year-round and defend their territory. They mate for life. The pileated woodpeckers are splendid birds wearing a bright red feathered crest on their heads with alternating black and white stripes on the sides of their face. There is little difference between the male and female except the female’s colorful red crest does not extend to the beak as does the males. Plus the male has a red stripe along his cheek which the female does not. The body feathers are black and when the wings are extended, a white stripe on each wing can be seen. Like other woodpeckers, their tail against the tree trunk helps support them as they search for food. You can recognize this woodpecker’s rapping without seeing them. They start pecking fast and the rapping slows towards the end. No other woodpecker has this pecking pattern. The peaks of the herb garden’s decayed tree stump are not quite as high as they were, thanks to Mr. P.W. I have to put dirt into the holes where the sumptuous pileated woodpecker excavated decayed wood, but the joy and gratefulness of being able to observe this magnificent bird at close range are worth any dirt under my fingernails. “All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance, emerging from God like the rays of the sun.” —Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179 [email protected] Ann Rains, May 2020
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