Woodpeckers in our pine tree!

By -
There were two woodpeckers knocking in the pine tree in our backyard today, it looked like a couple but the male (he had a pretty red mark on his head) got shy when I brought the camera out. I didn't want to disturb them too much, in case they feel like making a home here, so I used the telephoto lens and didn't insist too much, but here's the female!



Fun facts
Woodpeckers pretty much "knock on wood" all day long :-P
They will never ever get a concussion because their cranium is specially shaped to distribute the impact from the beak toward the back of the head, and their brain is specially cushioned.
Their main diet consists of grubs and insects found beneath the bark of trees. Thus...
If you were to tell a horror story to a family of grubs, you would begin with "Knock, knock!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bye Bye 2021, Welcome 2022!

By -
Image
It's a feeling shared by many: quite glad 2021 is over and behind us. This post will rehash some marking events during this long year, both ones we loved and ones we never want to go through ever again, if we could have a say. For those latter ones, we are deeply grateful for the friends and family who were by our side, offering kind words and support when it was needed most, whether from close or far. We started the year with Grandma Tammy still staying with us for several months, during our COVID-19 self-imposed isolation. She brought our family twice as much joy and peace, as conversations exploded in many more combinations than when Greg and I are the only adults around. Fae gained a whole extra year of learnings, just by being around all that, and is now speaking like a four year old at the age of two. For the first part of the year, our friend Chandni taught Mara and Gaius througho
Read more

But I Will Still Need Your Money

By -
Image
In the past 6 months we've travelled over 27,000 miles, if we were to add up all of our trips with the kids. That's more than the Earth's circumference of 24,901 mi, so we could technically say we travelled around the world. On one of the last trips, our two seasoned travelers Mara and Gaius were so self sufficient: they knew how to handle the security line, and even carried all the luggage in the airport. Elena: Do you guys need us anymore? You carry your own luggage, and Mara already knows how to give the tickets to the airport people. Maybe next time you could just go on your own without us. What do you think? Mara: But I will still need your money. Way to be pragmatic; I guess parents are still good for something. Here's some highlights from our trips (non-chronological):  Seattle Zoo, USA  Space Needle, Seattle, USA Chisinau Airport,  Moldova  Bucovina Monasteries, Romania Palace of Culture, Iasi, Romania - with Andrei!
Read more

Giant Fig Tree - Largest in North America

By -
Image
In Santa Barbara, California, thrives a giant. In fact, it is the largest fig tree in North America , the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. Yes, a Fig Tree - with actual figs strewn about, although now with the drought they were not so juicy.  You can lean on its roots, climb up on its trunk till where the branches spread out, or hide between its ridges. A great hide-and-seek spot for both kids and adults.  Here's our family playing between its giant roots; scroll to the bottom to get an idea of the actual scale, which is hard to comprehend. Giant. Two ladies shyly making an acquaintance with the giant.  Here's an interesting thing we noticed about nowadays toddlers: they seem to take amazingness as a common day-to-day thing. Maybe it's because we, the parents, strive to always show them things we find outstanding, so a zebra becomes common. Or maybe they simply enjoy the world at level 100, regardless of whether it's a random leaf in the yard, or a world-uniqu
Read more