There are some truly weird feathered critters living in the woods around my cottage. Strange variants of normal birds that make me scratch my head and say “What the heck…?”
The Canpecker
Downy woodpeckers usually bang away at trees looking for insects to munch on. This variant took a strange liking to an empty can; lid removed, and inverted on top of a fence post. Haven’t a clue why the can is there. Early every morning, this bird bangs away at the open edge of the can. The resulting racket is heard for miles over the lake and through the woods and deep inside my sleepy head. GRR!
The Platepecker
Pileated woodpeckers also favour insects burrowed into wood as their normal diet. But this one dude finds a flat metal plate on the hydro pole out back. He bangs on the edge of this plate creating another almighty racket. Then the dude cocks his head, listens and laughs. Honestly, I’m glad somebody’s having a good time.
The Flagpecker
My husband has a red baseball cap with a small Canadian flag stitched on the back. This intrepid creature assumed the red maple leaf was the throat of a white flower and, you guessed it, pecked my husband’s head. Fortunately, it was a tiny little ruby-throated hummingbird and not a big plate-pecker with a heavy-duty beak that went after him. Would that make him a pate-pecker?
What bizarre creatures have you seen around you?
Text © Joan Leacott 2012 GNU Free Documentation License for Photos Used in this Post
Joan Leacott 
This makes me laugh! 😀 We watch the critters here, too, in the cove doing things that make us laugh. Sometimes the little red squirrels will come to the window and look in if the feeder is out of food, as if to say “Um, excuse me, where’s our seeds?” 😀
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Our neighbours have goldfinches doing the same thing. And we always put out! Humans are the funniest people.
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We have the same kinds of birds – love the goldfinches flashing about.
Do y’all have grosbeaks there?
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Yep, rose-breasted and evening. Haven’t seen one lately, but I’ve got them ticked on my life list. I’m a bit of birder, you see. My favourite is the black-capped chickadee, and the gray catbird–it meows–really–a short hello kind of meow. Like I said…birds are way weird. I’m talking southern Ontario, Canada in the bowl between the Great Lakes and the Ottawa River–huge territory–lots of birds.
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I love the chickadee, too … so many I love — the nuthatch is interesting, as well — it comes to the feeder, takes one seed, flies off, eats it, comes back, takes one seed, flies off, eats it -repeat. Most all the other birds/critters sit at the feeders to eat. 😀
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Maybe that’s how it controls it’s intake? If only we could ask….
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I laughed because after I wrote that, I went outside and watched a nuthatch gorge itself on our seed-cake! *laughing*
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you live in a wonderful place. I live on the outskirts of a fabulous city but without all the wildlife you’ve got. lucky you
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It’s my cottage on the shores of Georgian Bay. Winter is spent in the heart of Toronto. But my heart belongs to the bay.
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nice that you have a bay. we have a reservoir. does that count? Mind you 90 Kms away is Banff and the rockies. so I shouldn’t complain.
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Absolutely, no complaints allowed about anywhere in our big beautiful country. IIRC, we had a picnic on the shores of that reservoir while waiting for a flight. Banff is gorgeous, and Lake Louise. I’ve got treasured photos from my visit there. Loved the magpies, and the ravens among the hoodoos.
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“Then the dude cocks his head, listens and laughs. Honestly, I’m glad somebody’s having a good time.” LOL! So enjoyed this post today. 😛 You definitely have an unusual music band forming in your neck of the woods (very glad they’re yours and not mine. hee)
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All we need now is a chipmunk on a washboard and a skunk on a old whiskey jug! Thanks for stopping by.
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Don’t forget the famous herniated woodpecker Mr. Grumpy announced with glee that he’d spotted. I hope it saw a doctor for that. ;-D
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I think he got that because some birders call them pile-ated woodpeckers! One for your puns list?
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