Finding The Now

The breast of the bird perched high in the lime tree, tight up against a thick branch, is a bright metallic lime green, luminous almost, in the morning sunshine. For a few seconds I wonder what it is. Something exotic maybe? An escapee? I grab the binoculars for a better look.

At that moment it turns and reveals a crimson stripe on the top of its head and black eye patch. A green woodpecker. Usually I see one, sometimes two,  foraging on the ground below the trees or catch one mid-flight, alerted by their distinctive call. Now the front of the bird is literally shining. The back is the same green as the branches and disappears into them. It’s at times like this that I wish I had a good camera.

It’s a morning for woodpeckers. Minutes later a pair of great spotted settle in the same lime tree and creep and shuffle up and down the branches and trunk in their usual jerky fashion, tapping on the wood as they go.  They stay together. I get a good look, through binoculars, at the red patch on the head of the male.

It’s always worth taking the time to look up.

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Tags: birdwatching, great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker