Nursed Back to Health, a Reltonia Acorn Woodpecker Now Flies Again!
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
I continue to fight to protect my baby fir trees with "protective cages" (See Installment 467: November 16, 2017). The protective cages usually stop the rodents who prey on the trees' bases and the deer who nibble on their tops. However, recently I have come to realize that after the tops of protected trees emerge from the tops of the uncovered cages, they are once again vulnerable to predation by fully grown deer. The deer simply stretch their necks a bit and then bite off the tops. (See picture 1.)
To remedy this situation I have begun fashioning "extension cones". I place these extensions onto the top portion of the cages in order to make it more difficult for the deer to do their damage. (See picture 2.)
Each day here on Reltonia presents new grist for blog writing...
A few days ago, as I prepared to pull into my driveway after making a shopping run into the nearby town of Independence, Oregon, I noticed a bird in trouble: The bird was an adult female "acorn woodpecker". She was literally stuck on the hot asphalt surface of the road some 20 meters east of my driveway entrance.
What had caused her to literally dive onto the surface of the road pavement? I would guess she had made an evasive maneuver of some sort. At any rate, recalling the sad encounter from several years ago with a male western meadowlark, in which the beautiful bird had passed away while in my hands (See Installment 272: January 28, 2016), I gently pulled the woodpecker off of the asphalt. Her breast and wing feathers -- as well as her feet -- were stuck to the very warm asphalt, making it impossible for her to fly away from the predicament she found herself in...
She had probably been stuck there for only a few minutes, but already the heat of the noon sun had sent her into a stupor. She was unresponsive as I gently freed her from the gluelike asphalt. I held her in my left hand and drove her up to my house, where I ran cool water over her beak and blew cool mist on her to lower her body temperature. I also massaged her gently and spoke softly to her saying:
"There, there...
You're going to be fine."
Within a minute's time she began to move about on the ground. (See picture 3.) I picked her up and massaged her ever so softly and held her very gently. It seemed that no bones were broken...(See picture 4.)
Then...SHE BROKE FREE, TOOK FLIGHT, AND ROCKETED OFF INTO THE NEAREST STAND OF OAK TREES.
Now, more than ever, I see the need to help my Oregon oaks. They need to be "liberated" (meaning I will never cut them down) so that they can release oxygen just as my fir trees do. Moreover, those oaks can provide homes for the acorn woodpeckers of Reltonia.
Although I will continue to help my fir trees, it will not be for monetary gain. I no longer think of my fir trees as possible lumber sales income sources, but as oxygen releasing, carbon storing friends. So too are my oaks, my maples, my elms, my sequoias, my redwoods, my grand firs, and my other trees.
Steve Walker
Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
Note how a deer has bitten of the top of this young tree -- and then left the bitten off part hanging on the top rim of the protective cage!
Here I am showing the top of a different young tree -- protected behind an "extension cone" I have fitted over the top of the protective cage.
This is the acorn woodpecker I treated for heat stroke. After only a minute or two of my help, she came out of her stupor...
After another minute she had become fully alert, and her heart rate was now steady... (One second after this photo was taken, she broke free of my grasp and flew up and away at a speed of about 100 kilometers per hour and at an angle of 60%, heading for the nearest grove of oak trees.)
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.