Rhonda and I walked in Raven Run Saturday morning. There were no
unexpected birds, but there was plenty of activity. Of most interest,
just over our heads we had a Pileated Woodpecker working on a dead limb
of an otherwise healthy looking tree. It appeared he was trying to prune
the limb from the tree; he would rap a few times from one position,
adjust and rap some more, a chip would fall. Then he switched to the
other side like a person swinging an axe and another chip would fall.
Then he would hop out the limb as if to see if his weight would do the
trick. If he would have jumped up and down, he would have proven my
suspicion.
I awoke Sunday morning, part of me still standing on the overlook of
Kentucky River; sun warming my right cheek, a distance Black Vulture
giving his identity away with 3 quick wing beats mid soar, the Pileated
resonating in the woods behind us, a Sycamore leaning over the river in
its browns and yellows and still greens, quaking in the sun. A lazy
Great Blue drifting down stream; my wife on my arm.
Scott Marsh
Lexington KY
