I heard an insistent tapping outside my kitchen window last week. Grabbing my camera, I ran outside and caught sight of a woodpecker flying away from the side wall of my house. The bird settled on the electricity pylon that runs through my garden. I identified it as a male great spotted woodpecker (dzięcioł duży) - dendrocopus major.
Below: I'm looking at it, and it looks back at me - guiltily. Look closely at its beak - it's covered with grey Styrofoam beads, which also fleck its plumage.
Below: the male of the species has a small red patch at the back of its head. Interesting fact about woodpeckers - they have a 'tongue-bone' that runs from their tongue (used to extract grubs and insects from trees) right around the back of their skull, to cushion the brain from the impact of repeated hammering on trees - or indeed stuccoed Styrofoam insulation.
Below - the hole made under the eaves. Question - should I leave it for woodpeckers to nest in, or should I fill it in with squirts of expanding spray foam (isocyanate and polyol resin)? Is it better to live together in symbiosis with Mr and Mrs Woodpecker and their brood - or let them know that this aggression will not stand? Note the mess left by the Styrofoam, held onto the wall by static electricity. Rain will wash it off, but I need to sweep it up to stop it polluting the soil. It takes this stuff 500 years to biodegrade. Pairing begins in December, eggs are laid from late April to June, the fledglings depart three weeks after hatching, and the woodpeckers tend not to return to the same nests a second time.
Below: further inspection of my property shows another hole, slightly larger, made near the top of the garage wall. Again - fill or leave? (behind the 20cm of Styrofoam there's a brick wall, which cannot be compromised by beaks nor damp.) Dendrocopus major is a protected species in Poland.
Below: the autumnal migrations begin. Snapped yesterday, 14 October, a flock of geese - heading west over Grobice.
Below: taken on 8 October, at a higher altitude and with shorter lens, a formation of cranes, making their characteristic klangor. Also flying west, rather than south, as one would expect.
This time six years ago:
To sleep perchance to dreamThis time ten years ago:
Liverpool's waterfront
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2 comments:
My problem! Magpies anchoring themselves in wall insulation and taking out chunks. Magpies are horrible and they shoot you that look! I am worn down by the constant battle but I have been patching the holes with joint compound. I’m worried once rainwater gets in between the insulation and the wall I’m done for. And crows cracking wall nuts on the roof and chimneys. The debris blocks up gutters and the birds hammer away at the roof. Constant problem! I sometimes light Piccolo firecrackers and aim into the air where they explode and scare the birds … for a few hours. I’m tired of the nuisance. Moles, ants, neighbourhood marten using the front door steps as a toilet. It never ends! There was a time a long time ago I would take the air rifle to such intruders but I found it harder and harder to bring myself to do the deed. Gosh … this sounds like a question to an agony column about acne!
@ Jacek Koba
I'm inclined to live and let live. I've 'dosed' the holes with used coffee grounds from my Bialetti espresso pot; a couple of pucks in each. The woodpecker returned once, and I've not seen him back since. Spent coffee grounds are excellent ant repellant too. Atavistic memory of forest fires, I guess.
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