June 2008
Something strange was going on near the building where my office is located. I sensed something moving outside the window of the bathroom. One day I recognized the moving object.
To the north of the building we have a lovely backyard forest. There is a tree having a hole of diameter two or three inches just at the same height as the bathroom (the fourth floor). Something was moving inside the hole. I was so curious that I stared at the hole for a while. A bird came. It seemed that he/she (or they) fed (a) baby bird(s). She came time after time. I was convinced that she caught and brought worms to the baby bird. After careful observations, I noted that the head of the bird was red. I looked up an illustrated book of birds and identified it as a great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major).
We often hear drumming sounds from here and there in spring forests. I used to show off my expertise by saying that it was a woodpecker hitting a trunk. It is easy to hear the sounds, but hard to actually watch the birds. I have to confess that this was my first look at a woodpecker.
On a weekend of June, I brought a digital camera. It could be fun to take the photos of the woodpeckers. I walked around to find a nice place for photos. The window of the staircase was good; no leaves and no branches covered the hole. The distance between the hole and the window is less than fifteen meters. "OK, let's take photos here". I sat down on the floor and waited and waited. The baby woodpecker showed the head occasionally, though the parental woodpecker did not appear.
A big crow turned up instead. It perched on a branch just next to the hole and observed it enthusiastically. He wanted to rummage for a prey in the hole. The baby woodpecker hid deep in the hole. The opening of the hole was large enough for the crow to insert the beak in. What happened next?
The crow flew around the hole back and forth; perched on the left branch and the right; stretched himself to reach the hole. Gradually I understood. Crows are able to perch on horizontal branches but not on steep ones nor on trunks. Woodpeckers are able to perch on trunks. What a wonderful place for the hole to be drilled! It had almost the same distance from branches nearby. After a long struggle, the crow gave up and flew away.
A long time passed, and the big woodpecker showed up eventually. I took photos and photos. The digital camera zoomed in to its limit. I pressed the shutter button as fast as possible. I was irritated by the release lag. The camera responded very slowly; it needed several seconds to focus. How may photos had I taken? The big woodpecker flew away into the forest again.
Great spotted woodpecker feeding.
"Now let's change the place". The window of the staircase was just in front of the hole. It was good but not idealistic. A problem was the window was completely fixed and the outside of the pane was dirty. It was as if I saw the forest through ground glass. The bathroom where I had recognized the bird first was better. There was some angle to the hole but the pane was clearer. I waited in it. The big bird came again. I clicked and clicked again. `Did I get some nice pictures?'
Suddenly, I realized that I was in the rest room. The next door is the ladies room. How loud were the shutter sounds? I quited taking photos.
Next Monday, I stared at the hole again. Nothing was moving. I waited until two small birds flew out from the hole. They had gone into the forest. The first one had white head but the second one seemed to have red head.
I observed the hole day by day. Birds of white head came in and out the hole; flew around. Crows came sometimes. But I did not see any woodpekers with red head. Had the baby woodpecker left the nest safely?
The campus of Hokkaido University, a sanctuary in Sapporo city of almost two million habitants.