Tags
clean air, Concord ban on plastic water bottles, great danes, lady slipper, Moms Clean Air Force, pileated woodpecker
It was a busy week in the woods for Karina and me. On Monday, she was chased by a giant. (Apologies in advance for the poor filming. Think “The Blair Witch Project.”)
(Next time I’ll hold the camera horizontally.)
Then on Thursday, when we reached the spot where I usually let Karina off her leash, she suddenly lurched forward. There was a rush of wings and a bird I’d never seen before flew up onto a nearby tree.
It looked a lot like my old friend Woody Woodpecker. I wondered if I was hallucinating. How could something so fabulous be here?
I wasn’t quick enough with the iPhone to get a photo. In fact, I wish I hadn’t tried, because by the time I’d dug it out of my pocket, the bird had silently disappeared.
When I got home, I learned that it was a pileated woodpecker, fairly common in these parts, even though I’d never seen one before.
Photo courtesy of National Geographic
On Friday, we went back and gathered evidence.
And then this morning, I was reminded that in addition to giants and woodpeckers, fabulous things are turning up in these woods all the time.
Lady slippers are one of my favorite harbingers of spring. They are something I have seen my entire life. Some years they spring up all over these woods. Theirs is a delicate beauty.
I want my grandchildren to come here and see them some day, and I want them to feel the thrill that I felt when I saw my first pileated woodpecker.
That’s a big reason why I write for Moms Clean Air Force. We all need to protect our Mother Earth. In addition to this week’s woodland adventures with Karina, I also wrote a post for them about why Concord’s ban on plastic water bottles is a step forward for clean air.
Happy trails everyone!
Shifting Gears 
Oh my gosh, I love the video of Karina!!!! She must have been exhausted.
Isn’t it amazing the “work” those woodpeckers do?? Have you ever heard them on a metal building? So noisy!!
No lady slippers yet in our yard. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
Thank you for all the hard work you do for @Momscleanairforce
We used to have a pileated woodpecker in our back yard in WA State. He lodged on a dead tree trunk and ate the bugs out of the rotting wood. Gorgeous thing and so big!
Yay! Some mysterious thing happened earlier and I couldn’t see all of the post but I am sooo happy that I came back–that video was precious! I grew up with Great Danes and they truly are Gentle Giants.
Thanks so much to Heather and all my other subscribers who came back. I accidentally hit “publish” before this post was completed and there was nothing I could do except delete it once the site had done its thing. I won’t be making THAT mistake again anytime soon. (Surprised that the cursing wasn’t audible in Arles.)
Charming. It’s in the spirit of Asakiyume’s blog. Do you look at that? You knew her at a job in the 1990s. See http://asakiyume.livejournal.com. As in your post here, she often blends fantasy and nature.
Hi John I seen my first hummer Wednesday evineng. Since then the numbers have been increasing everyday. I’ve also noticed the goldfinch population growing. In the last two days I’ve been spotting common yellowthroat and yellow rumped warblers in my backyard. I’ve also been seeing rose-breasted grossbeaks. My favorite sighting this week was a eastern towhee. It was a lifer for me. Tony
Thanks Suzannesmom,
Yes, I do remember her, she was/is so talented.