a cracking good bird!

Have I got a good bird to report! Flying across the 'front range' -- the woods facing the marsh and creek -- and briefly perching in the morning sunlight on high dead branches two or three times was a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER: black head with a thin white stripe on the lower part of the face, black back with faint white markings on the wing and tail. No yellow on the head but could have been a female or young bird. A little bigger than a Hairy and not as big as a Flicker, this species famously prefers burned over (or insect devastated) areas on forest edges with standing dead trees -- a perfect description of the hurricane-blasted dead trees which now line our woodland. The hurricane-created landscape very much resemble burnt-up landscapes and we have seen the arrival and/or proliferation of more than one fire-adapated spcies: Fireweed (also known as Pilewort), Olive-sided Flycatcher and now Black-backed Woodpecker! Wow!

Could I have made a mistake? I don't think so. The bird was clearly a woodpecker and was flying with woodpeckers (Flickers). No other North American woodpecker has such a large, solid black crown, nape and back. The only similar woodpecker, the Three-toed, is smaller and has some obvious white on its head and back. And, as if to help out with the comparative ID, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker appeared (plenty of white on the back and wings) making a total of six woodpeckers on the place!

A few other birds of note included Nashville Warbler, several Golden-crowned Kinglets and Eastern Phoebe, the first two of these three also being first-of-the-season birds. A good day!

Eric Salzman