The day before the most recent snowstorm, I was taking an early morning walk along a wooded  lane and was delighted by the flurry of activity taking place. There were at least half a dozen woodpeckers (of three different species), busily foraging and storing various food items. I wondered if they sensed the pending storm. The Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers were tapping at deadened bark (and the shingles of a neighbor’s home), and the Red-belied Woodpeckers were calling from the treetops and tucking dried fruits and nuts into their carved out holes.

For a brief few moments I felt as though I was in an enchanted forest. Not only surrounded by the earnest yammering and quick flashes of black and white woodpecker wings, but three does charged past, the Coyote pair was spied at the edge of the woods, a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and winter Robins were dining on rose hips, and a cheery pair of Carolina Wrens,. perched on a granite outcropping, were all on the scene.

Red-bellied Woodpecker storing dried fruits and nuts