Drama in my backyard – a woodpecker’s bark removal in search for food atop a mango tree stump and an inquisitive audience!

[raghu ananth]

Drama in my backyard – a woodpecker’s search for food atop a mango tree and an inquisitive audience!   This time, mom hollered from the backyard and said “Some new bird has landed on the mango tree. It looks beautiful. Come take a look”.   To my surprise, it was a white-naped woodpecker - Chrysocolaptes festivus, which I had seen once earlier. Moments after spotting me, it gave a loud call and flew close to the bottom of another small mango tree stump, climbed up and after ensuring that it was safe from whatsoever threats, started  pecking on an already cut/ marked portion in the bark.  I brought my camera and this time I asked my mom to go ahead and I followed cautiously. The trick worked as the bird just watched for a few seconds and continued its work and I started clicking. (I have noticed many common birds that have strayed into the backyard like the hoopoe, tailor bird, sparrows, koel and sunbirds coming very close, just a feet or two next to my mom. But I seem like a stranger to them and a slight action on my part is enough to have them scurrying away with a cry of alarm.)   Soon, the noise aroused the curiosity of a furred mammal which came close to the woodpecker, but one sharp peck from its beak sent the intruder scampering away, only for it to return and peep at the woodpecker from a respectable distance.   Once, a woodpecker continued its rap-a-tap-tap noise on the bark of the mango tree with its chisel-like bill, making a mark from top to bottom and then again to the top right, as if drawing out a heart.     It took less than three minutes for the wood pecker to remove a small portion of the bark of the mango tree, eat some insects/worms and fly away. I could see nothing what it ate. But there were small holes under the bark. After the exit of the wood pecker, the squirrel came to check and spent all its time sniffing and licking at the place, where moments earlier the woodpecker had been busy at work.   It took me years to learn that the continuous firing sounds in the wilderness which resembled a gun being fired, was thanks to these woodpeckers boring into hollow wood for insects. The alarm calls too are a quick burst of sounds. During trips to my village, I normally see them on many of the Ficus species (Banyan –Ficus bengalensis , Ficus.Mysorensis, F.racemosa,  coconut, areca and acacia trees making their way from the bottom of the tree to the topmost branches invisible for some time and then flying away     Photo date :   20 Nov 2009, Time 1:00PM to 1:09PM Krishnaraja nagar, Mysore District, Karnataka   Note: This Mango tree stump no longer exists     Regards   Raghu

[Dinesh Valke]

... thoroughly enjoyed the drama, Raghu ji.
Nice photos too.
Regards.
Dinesh

[Balkar Arya]

Nice Story with Pics Raghu Ji

--
Regards

Dr Balkar Singh
Head, Deptt. of Botany and Biotechnology
Arya P G College, Panipat
Haryana-132103
09416262964

[Prashant awale]

Wow, Thats really great. Good that you captured this nice drama from yr backyard and showed it to us. Good narration as well...
Thanks Raghu ji...
Regards
Prashant

[Dr Pankaj Kumar]

Thats a female of white-naped woodpecker.
I imagine squirrel must be hiding nuts somewhere close and he was
trying to sho the bird away :)).
This was fun to watch. Thanks for sharing this beautiful sequence.
Regards
Pankaj

On Oct 6, 12:45 pm, Prashant awale <pkaw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wow, Thats really great. Good that you captured this nice drama from yr
> backyard and showed it to us. Good narration as well...
> Thanks Raghu ji...
> Regards
> Prashant
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 6:35 AM, Balkar Arya <balkara...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Nice Story with Pics Raghu Ji
>

> > On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 12:59 AM, Dinesh Valke <dinesh.va...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> ... thoroughly enjoyed the drama, Raghu ji.
> >> Nice photos too.
> >> Regards.
> >> Dinesh
>

> >> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 12:32 AM, raghu ananth <raghu_...@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
> >>> * Drama in my backyard – a woodpecker’s search for food atop a mango
> >>> tree and an inquisitive audience! ** *

>
> >>> This time, mom hollered from the backyard and said “Some new bird has

> >>> landed on the mango tree. It looks beautiful. Come take a look”.****
>
> >>> ** **
>
> >>> To my surprise, it was a white-naped woodpecker - *Chrysocolaptes
> >>> festivus,* which I had seen once earlier. Moments after spotting me, it

> >>> gave a loud call and flew close to the bottom of another small mango tree
> >>> stump, climbed up and after ensuring that it was safe from whatsoever
> >>> threats, started  pecking on an already cut/ marked portion in the bark.
> >>>  I brought my camera and this time I asked my mom to go ahead and I
> >>> followed cautiously. The trick worked as the bird just watched for a few
> >>> seconds and continued its work and I started clicking. (I have noticed many
> >>> common birds that have strayed into the backyard like the hoopoe, tailor
> >>> bird, sparrows, koel and sunbirds coming very close, just a feet or two next
> >>> to my mom. But I seem like a stranger to them and a slight action on my part

> >>> is enough to have them scurrying away with a cry of alarm.)****
>
> >>>  ****

>
> >>> Soon, the noise aroused the curiosity of a furred mammal which came close
> >>> to the woodpecker, but one sharp peck from its beak sent the intruder
> >>> scampering away, only for it to return and peep at the woodpecker from a

> >>> respectable distance. ****
>
> >>> ** **

>
> >>> Once, a woodpecker continued its rap-a-tap-tap noise on the bark of the
> >>> mango tree with its chisel-like bill, making a mark from top to bottom and

> >>> then again to the top right, as if drawing out a heart.****
>
> >>> ** **
>
> >>> ** **

>
> >>> It took less than three minutes for the wood pecker to remove a small
> >>> portion of the bark of the mango tree, eat some insects/worms and fly away.
> >>> I could see nothing what it ate. But there were small holes under the bark.
> >>> After the exit of the wood pecker, the squirrel came to check and spent all
> >>> its time sniffing and licking at the place, where moments earlier the

> >>> woodpecker had been busy at work.****
>
> >>> ** **

>
> >>> It took me years to learn that the continuous firing sounds in the
> >>> wilderness which resembled a gun being fired, was thanks to these
> >>> woodpeckers boring into hollow wood for insects. The alarm calls too are a
> >>> quick burst of sounds. During trips to my village, I normally see them on
> >>> many of the Ficus species (Banyan –Ficus bengalensis , Ficus.Mysorensis,
> >>> F.racemosa,  coconut, areca and acacia trees making their way from the
> >>> bottom of the tree to the topmost branches invisible for some time and then

> >>> flying away ****
>
> >>> ** **
>
> >>> ** **
>
> >>> Photo date :   20 Nov 2009, Time 1:00PM to 1:09PM****
>
> >>> Krishnaraja nagar, Mysore District, Karnataka****
>
> >>> ** **

>
> >>> Note: This Mango tree stump no longer exists
>
> >>> Regards
>
> >>> Raghu
>

> >>> ****

[Giby Kuriakose]

Wow! What a nice documentary. 

These pictures are evidences for story depiction with the help of still photographs!

Thanks and Regards

Giby

--
GIBY KURIAKOSE PhD
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE),
Royal Enclave,
Jakkur Post, Srirampura
Bangalore- 560064
India
Phone - +91 9448714856 (Mobile)
visit my pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/giby

[Ritesh Choudhary]

Wonderful story Raghu Ji.

Keep it up!

Regards,
Ritesh.

[Smita Raskar]

Enjoyed story with beautiful pictures......

i appreciate your work the way you have taken such lovely pictures without making sound...

 both of them unaware of your presence..it turned out to be nice documentary.. i love it

--
Smita raskar

308 Disha Residency,
Salaiwada,Sawantwadi
Mob.09422379568 / 09763989639

[ranjini kamath]

Thanks for sharing this lovely sequence ,Raghu ji:)
   Regards
                         Ranjini Kamath
 

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 12:32 AM, raghu ananth <ragh...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Drama in my backyard – a woodpecker’s search for food atop a mango tree and an inquisitive audience!   This time, mom hollered from the backyard and said “Some new bird has landed on the mango tree. It looks beautiful. Come take a look”.   To my surprise, it was a white-naped woodpecker - Chrysocolaptes festivus, which I had seen once earlier. Moments after spotting me, it gave a loud call and flew close to the bottom of another small

Note: This Mango tree stump no longer exists     Regards   Raghu

[Na Bha]

Very nice story with fotodocumentation.
I enjoyed it. When I read the word Drama, felt a bit unhappy. But the story ended happily, that was very good.
Regards
Nalini