woodpeckers

Found in the Sierra Madre, the Arizona Woodpecker has a special connection to the mountain range. Sharing mid-elevation pine and oaks with fellow border straddlers, these small brown birds with white and brown cheeks stand out from other Woodpeckers with their heavily marked white underparts. Uniquely, they forage by flying to the base of a tree and then spiraling up the trunk. And in courtship, the male turns himself into a paper airplane, holding his wings steady and gliding toward his mate.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Today my guest is Abby Wing, an owner, designer and builder here at Rozet Nursery. Abby spent 17 years in the San Francisco Bay area before moving out here to Tucson, there she pursued formal education, including her California Naturalist Certification, and acquired experience working with a number of gardeners, herbalists and contractors. Here at the nursery, Abby specializes in sustainable design, medicinal and edible plants, rock work, custom pots and gardens for children.

She's joining us today for our second episode focused on backyard birds and native plants that might attract them.

For more about what's going on at Rozet Nursery, please checkout their Instagram: @rozetnursery

For some pictures of the plants we discussed, a few nursery visitors and the Gila Woodpecker, please check out the podcast's Instagram: @lookingatbirdspodcast

Chapters

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:34 - Rozet Nursery Avian Visitors
• 02:59 - Abby’s Background with Birds
• 05:49 - Bird of the Episode: Gila Woodpecker
• 11:33 - Native Plants: Saguaro, Blue Palm & Yuccas
• 14:05 - Tip: Water Drainage Test
• 20:02 - Next plant: Brahea Armada / Mexican Blue Palm
• 20:38 - Tip: Deep Watering
• 24:17 - Native Plants = Velvet Mesquite + Blue Palo Verde
• 27:14 - Tip: Planting Proximity
• 29:03 - Tip: Mulching
• 33:15 - Native Plants: Yuccas 
• 34:14 - A bit about Rozet Nursery
• 40:43 - Upcoming events at Rozet Nursery
• 43:03 - Outro

Thank you for listening!

Like a jazz player beating out a drum roll, a woodpecker uses its bill to rap out a brisk series of notes. Early spring resounds with the percussive hammering of woodpeckers. Their rhythmic drumming says to other woodpeckers, "This is my territory!" We also hear them knocking on wood when they carve holes in trees to create nest cavities or reach insects. For any woodpecker, it’s all about proclaiming a signal as far and as loud as possible. Look for Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, like this one, in the Northeast and farther north, and Red-breasted Sapsuckers in the West.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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This week's episode is about the secret life of pinecones and cones- the fascinating fruits of conifers. We chat about the ingenious design of the encasement of woody cones and how they pollinate and protect seeds. 

Then wrap up with a reflection on native Rhododendrons (Rhododendron maximum) we came upon on our way to Blue Mountain Lake, part of the Delaware Water Gap Recreational Area. 

And, a personal note about Jolee, our rescue dog, and kind passersby who expressed concern seeing me walking without her, demonstrating the difference we can make by recognizing when something or someone is not the same.

Link to Related Stories:

The Hidden Life of Pinecones 

Native Rhododendrons

Flora & Reflections from Blue Mountain

Repurposing Christmas Trees – including using them to feed the birds. 

    ***

I'd love to hear about your garden and nature stories. And your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. Thanks so much for tuning in :^)

You can Follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone

Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast Page

Thank you for sharing the garden of life,

Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page

Woodpeckers, as a group, eat far more ants than most other birds do. Many other vertebrates tend to avoid ants because of their stings or because of the noxious chemicals they contain, like formic acid. But woodpeckers just love them. A Pileated Woodpecker’s diet may be up to 50% ants!

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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When scientists need to capture birds for research, they often use a mist net, a length of fine mesh strung between two poles on the ground. But what about catching birds that stay up in the treetops? Researchers studying Red-headed Woodpeckers in Virginia used fishing rods to cast lines up into the canopy so they could hoist nets up to the level of the woodpeckers’ nest cavities. 

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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These Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers appear nearly identical, but the Hairy Woodpecker is larger than the Downy, with a distinctly longer bill. And it doesn't have the black spots on its outer tail feathers like the Downy. But even if you can’t observe these spunky birds, you can identify them by listening carefully. The call of the Downy Woodpecker is soft and downy, like a duvet. The call of the Hairy Woodpecker is loud and hairy, like a heavy metal band!

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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The Acorn Woodpecker is found in parts of the western US. It chips small recesses out of trees to fit the acorns it will harvest throughout the fall. A family of Acorn Woodpeckers may use this storage tree, or granary, for generations. Some of them hold as many as 50,000 acorns. So does the Acorn Woodpecker just kick back and munch acorns all winter? Nope! In the weeks after a fresh acorn is lodged in a hole, it dries and shrinks. So Acorn Woodpeckers spend much of the winter shuttling acorns from one hole to another, finding just the right fit.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Woodpeckers - including this Northern Flicker - are master carpenters of the bird world. They're called "keystone" species for their crucial role in creating habitat suited to other woodland wildlife. Abandoned woodpecker nest-holes become nests or roosts for small owls, cavity-nesting ducks, swifts, bluebirds, swallows, wrens, and other birds, as well as many small mammals. 

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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On this episode, Alex teaches you all about an animal that you may have never seen up close, but definitely heard. So, grab some binoculars, because we’re looking into the trees to talk about birds that have some unconventional ways of getting their food: woodpeckers.

For sources and more information, please visit our website.

Check out our new YouTube channel @OnWildlifePodcast!

Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn Woodpeckers Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com. Most people know them due to their noisy evidence. Whether chattering loudly, slamming on a telephone box in the spring, or pounding into a hollow tree in hopes of finding some bugs to eat, woodpeckers are pretty charismatic. But why don’t they get concussions from all their head-banging?

The post The Nature of Phenology 11/24/18 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.