From Perth County to Rondeau Park, the Story of One Woodpecker.

First of all, a couple things I wanted to note.  I finally changed the header photo at the top of this blog to something more springlike.  Warbler migration is upon us and the Yellow Warbler is one of the few that stays around here to nest. 


My first monarch butterfly of the season was observed on our farm on May 16, the earliest that I ever remember seeing one around here.


Now on to the main post.






This story begins sometime back in early March.  It was a Sunday afternoon and I had just returned up to the house from a walk over the farm.  Rounding the corner of the house, I came across a Hairy Woodpecker laying under the window.  An unfortunate victim of a window strike.

I picked it up and looked it over, marvelling at the colour patterns, that one rarely gets to see so close. 

 I didn't like the thought of leaving it there to go to waste and so I decided to try and give it a new life.  I am familiar with the process of bird taxidermy and I started to wonder whether this bird could have a new life in a display or exhibit of some sort.

I contacted fellow blogger and Rondeau area naturalist Allen Woodliffe to get his opinion on whether it would be something that would be of interest to Rondeau Park.  He put me in touch with the park and they seemed interested in having it mounted for display in an existing exhibit. 

It was somewhat of a challenge, but the piece was finished and took the trip with me on my park visit at the end of April.

Woodpecker near bottom of the tree that the eagles are nesting in.

 This woodpecker met an unfortunate end, but now has the opportunity to be used to educate visitors to the park.  In this day and age, wildlife face various threats, but hopefully through pieces such as this, the general public can see the beauty of nature up close and build an awareness of how important it is to conserve it.

The Year of the Morel

At least that is what it seems like around here.  These unique little mushrooms are popping up in great abundance on one part of our farm.

Sometimes we go a full year without finding a single one which makes it even more strange that there would be so many this year.

As far as edible mushrooms go, morels are one of the tastiest.  A welcome spring gift.

This post was a bit different than what I usually write about here but every aspect of the natural world, even the mushrooms, can be interesting.

Anyone else seeing unusual numbers of morels this year?