Pileated Woodpecker

While I was taking pictures of the skunk cabbage at the edge of the wetland one day last week, a pileated woodpecker noticed me and started making a show of hopping up the trunk of a nearby tree.

Pretty soon all was quiet when the bird flew from the tree and disappeared.  But I had that eerie feeling that I was being watched,  Sure enough, what I first thought was the pointy stub of a branch on the side of a tree was actually the woodpecker peeking out of a hole.  I couldn't believe how lucky I was to stumble across this surprise -

That vertical gash on the right side of the trunk is the entrance to a cavity in the tree.  The combination of the low light of approaching dusk and my feeling that I needed to take a quick picture and back off meant I ended up with a disappointingly blurry shot of the opening.

I beat a hasty retreat because I really didn't want to disturb this bird, especially if it has eggs in that hollow.  As I left, the woodpecker flew out of its hole to keep an eye on me.

I discovered a very surprising fact about pileated woodpeckers on the National Audobon webpage devoted to them -

This species requires late successional stages of forest for habitat, as well as younger forests that have scattered, large, dead trees for food, nesting, and roosting. In younger forests they requires larger areas: 3,904 acres of virgin forest supports 3-6 pairs of Pileated Woodpeckers, while the same area of secondary forest will support just one pair. They also require larger trees with dead centers for roosting, where the bird excavates only the entrance hole.

Can it really be that each pair of woodpeckers requires that much territory?  I saw a similar statement on a website  Pilleated Woodpecker Central  - 

Territory size varies between 1000 and 4000 acres.  They will defend their territory year-round.

According to the second website, predators of the Pileated Woodpecker include the Red-tailed Hawk (a pair of which used to annually lay eggs in a large nest located in a neighboring tree), Barred Owls (which we have been hearing at night recently), weasels, and squirrels, among other animals.  These are just the predators mentioned that I know are sharing this same corner of the wetland.  

And these woodpeckers are monogamous.  As in they remain with the same mate for life, not just for a mating season.  That is cool.

Right after my chance discovery, our friend Jeff shared some beautiful pictures of a pileated woodpecker that visited his bird feeder located about two miles upstream from us.  Jeff gave me the go-ahead to share his photos here.

photo courtesy of Jeff S.

Photo courtesy of Jeff S.

Hello Spring 2013

Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis)

Has it really been almost a year since posting on here?  Time to get back in the groove.  Suddenly watching the flora and fauna come alive around here has inspired me to get my blogging act together.



Just as a brief reminder - I started this blog in April of 2009 when Adopt A Stream lead a project to restore a native growth buffer along the banks of Little Swamp Creek where it travels through our yard.  Students from the Leaf School at Edmonds Community College helped plant and mulch the buffer here in two phases and helped install large woody debris in a couple places along the stream bank.  This work took place between April 2009 and April 2010. Adopt A Stream and The Leaf School also completed an additional restoration project in our neighbor's yard where the stream continues behind our property.  The plants in our yard are doing fabulously, with only a few becoming victims to varying degrees of deer and beaver.



Back to what is happening now.  Indian plum is one of the first native plants that we see blooming along Little Swamp Creek, but it's not the only native plant currently blooming here.  Skunk Cabbage is also popping up like mad.  I hadn't smelled it yet, but I sure saw a lot of blossoms in the wetland behind our fence.

Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus)

Little Swamp Creek in Swamp Creek Wetland #3

Another view of Little Swamp Creek in Wetland #3

A few spots of bright pink Salmonberry blossoms suddenly appeared along the stream,

which prompted me to share the signs of spring showing up in the native plantings along our little stretch of Little Swamp Creek.

Wild rose (maybe Nootka but not sure)

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)

Twinberry (Lonicera involucrata)

This chokeberry is one of the first plants that we planted next to the stream. That was back in 2000.  It is now sporting a beautiful collection of lichens. 

This little nettle start and mushroom were part of the plant community on and around a huge, old tree stump that was left behind after this area was logged years and years ago.  There are several old stumps like this in the woods around us.

Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum)

I didn't realize how readily the Red-flowering Currants will multiply by establishing a new plant with root growth off of a branch that remains in contact with the ground.  Here's an example in our yard -

I took a picture of this willow next to the stream on one day, and the next day it was chopped down by a beaver.  More on the beaver issue in a future blog post...

Little Swamp Creek in April

Salmonberry blossom

Give us some warm, sunny, spring days, and suddenly everything along the stream comes alive!  And I breathe a sigh of relief each spring when I see life returning IN Little Swamp Creek itself, too.  

 Here are a couple of little 1.5-2"-long fish that were hanging out at different spots in the stream - 

I've seem some larger fish (maybe 4" long) zipping by, but they are too quick for me to identify.


We are starting to see the trails of caddisfly larvae along the bottom of the stream.  Here's a caddisfly larva conveniently perched for a photo (though it's hard to get a clear photo through rippling water...) -

I recently recalled that 10 years ago we used to see small groups of river eels hanging out in dips in the stream bed, but we haven't seen any recently.  Ha!  On the day I was taking update photos I happened to spot two eels swimming upstream.  Unfortunately all of my photos of those quick critters ended up being blurry, but you get the idea -

And suddenly our native plants are leafing out like crazy --

Red Currant

Nootka Rose

Twinberry

Indian Plum seedling  (love it when good seedlings show up instead of just weeds)

Red Osier Dogwood

Big Leaf Maple

  

All of the plants haven't leafed out yet, but already you can see what a thick, shady riparian zone we now have along the stream where there used to be some trees and mostly lawn.  This side is going into the fourth year since planting in spring of 2009 -

This shot is looking south into the yard.  This area was planted a year later than the other side, so it's beginning its third year.  I'll post another shot after the plants have all of their foliage -

I've been noticing heron in the planted area behind the fence -

I'll post photos of how the plants are doing in that area soon. 

A variety of trash shows up in the stream, the best being parts of old glass bottles.  While I was taking pictures of the caddisfly larva I looked over to see the sun shining on this chunk of green glass in the stream. Nice to see beauty in litter.

Foam keeps collecting on the upstream side of this large woody debris installed in the stream bank.   I've read that one cause of foam can be faulty septic systems upstream.  Or soap.  Since the presence of the foam is pretty constant, I'm thinking it's septic.  Yuck.

And this photo....

....is a teaser for a post to come.

Kenmore Heron Rookery 2012

 

I spent a little time down at the Kenmore heron rookery in mid-February watching, listening (quite spellbound by the crazy noises being made) and taking pictures.  It appeared that the heron were in the midst of fixing up nests, showing off to potential mates and being very territorial.  I regret that I didn't make a sound recording while I was there, because in the times that I have been back there since I have not witnessed the same cacophony.

(Yep, that actually is a picture of herons mating...)

I had never seen heron flare/puff up their feathers before.  What a show!  Here are several pictures of varying degrees of showiness -

That sleek neck turns into quite the bottle brush!

I didn't realize that those long, dark head feathers would stand straight up like this.

And some other miscellaneous photos of the heron.  Too bad it was such a dark, gloomy day -

A Metro bus driver who was on his break at the Park and Ride told me that the babies make quite a racket.  So I still have a chance to record some crazy sounds down there.