Woody

Since I have been on days off there haven't been any real new airplane photos so I am using a little help from Mother Nature. As I was getting into my car this little guy was hammering away at this rotten stump. He stopped to watch me as I crept in closer and closer. This is a Hairy Woodpecker. From what I read in Wikipedia they are common throughout North and Central America. I am not sure if this is the same guy but a year ago we had a Woodpecker that seemed to have lost his way. At 0500 every morning or so he would start hammering the old TV antenna attached to the house. It make quite a racket and usually would wake you up. What the hell would make a bird try to burrow into a metal tube ? In the words of Forrest, that's all I have to say about that.

Getting in nice and close but as in the next shot a little too close for his/her comfort. Another thing I noticed on the drive home is that there was a large flock of Canadian Geese still hanging around downtown and also in farmers fields eating the old corn that was left behind by the harvester. It was around zero to plus ten Celsius till now where its -25 and I think they might start heading south. In search of why they are still here I found in Wikipedia that in some places they have become non-migratory. The Pacific Northwest is mild with no natural predators so they hang out all year round.

Got in a little too close and spooked Woody here. Using the 12X zoom lens I managed to still get in a few more pictures.

Still wondering if he should come back to his tree stump he takes a look over. I am standing right beside it so he just left after a minute or so. I have no patience so to be one of those wildlife photogs would kill me. I was watching a show on researchers looking for the Greenland Shark. They spent 5 years just trying to find it, now that's dedication.