Percussion in the woods

April 21, 2009 | My Jottings

All our snow has finally melted and it looks as if we really might have some spring weather on the way. We’ve been enjoying the songs of robins and chickadees before we get out of bed and go downstairs to start our very busy mornings.

A few minutes ago when I let our Schnauzers Edith and Mildred outside for their morning constitutionals, I stopped and searched as I heard the very loud, staccato tapping of a Pileated Woodpecker in the trees at the back of our yard. These beautiful birds (whose brilliant red and jauntily peaked head feathers bring back memories of my childhood and the Woody Woodpecker cartoons I watched on television) are easy to spot if we can hear them first – they’re almost as big as crows.

We have no leaves on the trees yet and the grass is dry and brown; after a long winter signs of new life are hard to find. But today I was happy for the chance to hear that nature’s drummer is alive and well, doing just what he was created to do, rat-a-tat-tatting in our neck of the woods and reminding me to look up and listen.