Periodically I like to keep you abreast of what is happening in our bird world.
As you may remember, if you have read this column for any length of time, we have a dead palm tree right next to our house, about fifteen or sixteen feet in height which has been inhabited for several years by red-crested woodpeckers. Later, we had a screech owl making his home there, but I don't think the woodpeckers made good neighbors, so he (or she) moved over to a neighboring strangler fig tree in front of our house. One of my neighbors had a creche outside his house at Christmas last year and came out one day to find the screech owl next to baby Jesus.
The woodpeckers are still going strong. Every morning , as I awaken around seven, I hear a drumming on the metal flashing around our chimney, and I know that one of the males is demonstrating his machismo. This drumming is to attract the females, just like some jock on a playing field preening and showing off for his chick. We put out some birdseed on a corner of our porch for our tenants as a neighborly gesture. One day I saw from our powder room window which overlooks the tree and that corner of the porch one of the females was partaking of the seed when a bigger male pileated woodpecker, whom I had never seen before or since, appeared and chased her away so he could eat. Then a crow arrived, and they eyed each other warily like a couple of old gunslingers before the pileated woodpecker moved on.
Then last week, as I was making my early morning potty call, what do I see out the window but a really big red-shouldered hawk, perched on top of the palm, surveying the kingdom. He was magnificent and looked every inch the part of the predator king of the neighborhood. One of my neighbors has seen him, and one day witnessed a fight for a fish between an osprey, an eagle and the hawk---and the hawk won that round!
I have seen him on the perch a couple of more times and called for my wife, but, by the time she got there, he was gone. Then, a couple of evenings ago, as we were backing out of the garage, lo and behold he was sitting on a telephone box on the edge of our property, and she got to see him before he swiftly winged off.
I haven't seen the woodpeckers for a few days, but I know they're around because of the drumming on the roof. I suspect they are still in the palm but lay low when the Godfather comes around.
I'm looking forward to new faces and new adventures in the bird kingdom. It's great entertainment!
P.S. My techie grandson came to visit and changed my music, which was overdue. Hope you like it. Go to the list below for your choice of ten.
I never saw a woodpecker in Texas since I was a kid. I haven't seen one in Oklahoma either but they do have more woods than my Texas abodes. The only thing we've seen here is Blue Jays, and several sighting of cardinals and of course sparrows and finches and Humming Birds. Wish we had some hawks and eagles around the neighborhood. My wife would flip out.
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