Pecking out a message.

 And its back to winter yet again. The weather is very much bipolar lately. 

Took this lovely wood peckers pic last season of course. It was sometime in September and I happened to be outside enjoying the last of the pleasantly warm weather before the grim stuff comes along. I kept hearing this strange rattling sound coming from some place but couldn't quite figure out where exactly. And no I didn't think it was a rattle snake. Those are rare around here. But yeah we have those. No, I actually though it was the neighbor doing something in the back yard or playing a trick. So I continued to listen as it still make that rattling sound what ever it was. Eventually I determined that it was coming from the bushes that surround our little pond. Sound tends to bounce around in that area because of all those bushes and the noise of the water fall doesn't help to determine direction either. So I decided to look around in the bushes and low and behold I saw the little wood pecker going to town on a old and spent yucca flower stem. I left it behind and forgotten about it but I usually clip those off when they're finished flowering. So anyways he or she must have found some tasty grubs in those and as the little guy pecked away at the stem. The sound of the rattle noise must have come from the seed pods themselves and so that's why it made the sound of a rattle. Sorry about the quality of the photos but its the best I can do with an old digital camera. Still it is a pretty cool pic. Thanks for viewing!