A very small woodpecker is beating his brains out against a piece of metal on the telephone pole across the street. Bangbangbangbangbang. I stand underneath. “There are no bugs in there,” I call up to him, “you’re going to blunt your beak,” but he keeps hammering away. We have a lot of woodpeckers. Great big ones, and the noise they make is very loud. Maybe this poor baby thinks he’s doing it right. There’s a lesson in this somewhere, and I hope I’ve already learned it.
~ Abigail Thomas, What Comes Next and How to Like It: A Memoir
Notes:
- Photo: Fauna
- Related Post: Monday Mantra (Ted Kooser & Jim Harrison Poem on Woodpecker)
Such a distinctive sound….
It is!
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
This is awesome!!
Thanks for sharing Horty. Loved it too!
Looks almost like a work of art!!
It does!
I’d like to think I’ve learned this lesson too – and yet I hear this bangbangbang echoing in my head.
So ME. Beautifully stated.
Such determination!
there is no trying to reason with nature, it is stronger than us.
I’m fascinated with all birds and did a little reading on woodpeckers. We have one that pecks on metal chimneys. They often do that to make more noise to attract a mate. Pecking on metal is louder than trees.
No doubt pounding on metal is louder. Could drive one right over the edge!
A “holy” tree just in time for Easter.
Crafty!
Humans, too, do funny stuff that doesn’t seem to make any sense… when they want to attract a mate.
Smiling. So true!
We have many of those woodpeckers in our woods. We have placed a predator alarm on our home to avoid the damage. Besides bugs, the head knocking is a mating call. The little devils.
-Alan
Smiling. Have never heard of a predator alarm Alan. What is it!
You can find them online. They give off bird calls of hawks that are natural enemies of woodpeckers and they keep away from the homes they would otherwise damage.
-Alan
Had no idea. Thanks for letting me know.
Ok, first I can’t say how much I love this line:
There’s a lesson in this somewhere, and I hope I’ve already learned it.
and two, if it is not a case of an enhanced mating call, it sure calls to mind Einstein’s definition of crazy…
Smiling. Yes, she closes with a punch.
Smiling also.
I hope I’ve learned the lesson, too, but then why do I always have a headache?
Then friend, you and I haven’t fully learned the lesson. Still work to do.
About birds…I saw something heartbreaking yesterday. I went out to check the mail and saw a little hummingbird just sitting on the ground, which never happens. When I went up to it, I could see that it’s wing was hurt, so I went back into the house to get a box and try to figure out what I could do to help. When I went back outside, this little bird tried to fly, picked himself up about five feet, swerved off to the side and rammed right into a tree. He wasn’t able to fly straight. He was such a beautiful little bird and watching what happened ended up being really traumatic for me…couldn’t sleep last night because I kept thinking about it. Birds are such beautiful creatures and to go up to this little bird with it’s beautiful shiny feathers and see that it’s life was gone, was just horrible for me. 🙁
Awwww, so sad Carol.
I have a photo of this little bird…I took it when it was sitting quietly on the ground and before I realized its wing was hurt. It’s on my Instagram account.