We have a lot of wild cherry trees around the property, and every year, about now when the fruit is ripe, we get a lot of birds showing up to feast. The lovely cedar waxwings come in flocks. There is always a bluejay.
And, flying a swooping course and shouting 'kwik! kwik! kwik!' come the pileated woodpeckers. These are big birds. Taller than the chickens, but skinnier, dressed in their best black with a bright red crest. When they hammer into a tree, they really make the chips fly.
Quinn is standing by a pileated woodpecker tree -- we suspect the bird was trying to create a dug-out canoe, just in case the lake levels rose. We've seen them hollow out dead trees to such a degree that the trunks snap.
But back to the cherry trees, which provide a welcome addition to a diet you have to hammer out of the tree with your beak! The only problem arises when the fruit on the branch begins -- as fruit tends to do -- to ferment. And yes, you can sometimes get tipsy birds, weaving flight paths that would cause them to lose their license.
But mostly, what you get is the greatest possible viewing opportunity to watch these incredible birds, and ponder why it is they don't knock themselves unconscious every time they go out to drill for lunch. Among the many adaptations Mother Nature has made to prevent concussion is the woodpecker's tongue. Very long, with a barbed sticky end, it is ideal for extending into the drilled holes, plucking insects out of dead wood.
It is also ideal for helping to absorb shock. How? Well, that big long tongue has to be stored somewhere -- the throat area is much to narrow, so the tongue exits through a small hole at the base of the skull, wraps over top of the skull casing, and anchors into the eye socket at the front. That nice spongy tongue helps to take up the shock of hitting a tree with the beak.
It also ensures that when a woodpecker has something on his mind, more than likely, it's his tongue. :)
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