Who are we? We are our stories.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Redheaded Woodpecker

pensive woodpecker
remembering a fallen tree
food and shelter past

We normally have three varieties of woodpeckers at our feeders; Downy, Hairy, and Redbellied. Today we have vistor, a Redheaded Woodpecker.  Neat and trim with crisp markings.  He'll move on in a day or two; he's a creature of dead snags and open fields, not oak woods.  They were common when I was a boy, but when farmers got more free time they began to neaten things up - mowing ditches, cutting down dead trees, generally grubbing things out, all under the guise of "improvement". I think one Redheaded Woodpecker is worth a lot of dead trees in the fencerows.  

2 comments:

Todd Peterson said...

Another fine haiku by Gunnar. How about one about "habitat improvement" (stealing your words):

Farmers with free time
neaten too many things up,
Peckers fly away.

Keep those oak woods haiku poems coming!

Jonny Hamachi said...

Life in the Old Oaks
No more banging your hard head
Coasting down the hill

Thanks Gunnar.