The $91.25 Woodpecker
By Corey • April 11, 2007 • 5 commentsOn my way from Brooklyn to Manhattan this afternoon I got stuck in some serious traffic. Over an hour of bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go up the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway so I could get to the Battery Tunnel to get to Manhattan to go up the West Side Highway to Riverside Drive and 92nd Street. Why was I so intent on that particular intersection? Because a Red-headed Woodpecker has been there since last year! Red-headed Woodpeckers are gorgeous birds, or so my field guide tells me, and I have long wanted to see one.
You can imagine how I was feeling after my normally fast-driving self was stuck in that kind of traffic. Frustrated. And I was even more frustrated when I got to the magical intersection and couldn’t find parking. Round and round I went, block to block, but every opening big enough for a car was off-limits because of fire hydrants or driveways. Eventually I made a right-hand turn that I didn’t realize crossed a service road, which unfortunately held a member of the NYPD. Flashing lights, “license and registration,” and a $90 ticket later I was still looking for parking (apparently the “I’m from upstate and I don’t know my way around” plea had been used on this particular cop before). I finally found a metered spot, put five quarters in the parking meter, walked three blocks and watched the woodpecker fly off into some distant trees. It stayed there for quite some time.
I had no picture. My meter was running. So I figured I had to get all of you nice blog-readers something to look at:
Gray Squirrel with nut
European Starling
I started to despair. I had seen the bird, but not the look I wanted. And no picture. The meter was running. Then, out of nowhere, the Red-headed Woodpecker landed on the tree directly in front of me and drove away two starlings!
Red-headed Woodpecker
I’m not sure that the hole pictured above is the woodpecker’s roosting (or maybe, eventually, nesting) spot or not, but it definitely did not want starlings anywhere near it. After about fifteen minutes of watching the woodpecker I hustled back to my car and headed homeward. What a wonderful bird! If you’re a “New Yawka” you have no excuse not to go see this bird. Go. Now. Unless it is dark out in which case you should set your alarm for dawn and go tomorrow.
For better pictures and another tale of this same bird go see Mike’s post. And what was I doing in Brooklyn before my woodpecker adventure? Come back tomorrow to find out!
Tags: Manhattan, Red-headed Woodpecker, woodpeckers
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I feel bad mentioning that, when I visited the redhead, I pulled right into an unmetered spot right across from the bird’s roost. Based on your pics, though, I’d say you got at least $100 worth of views.
Red-headed Woodpeckers are the only match to the Prothonotary Warblers at Rondeau Provincial Park in southern Ontario. A great place to watch both (and up to 120 species a day in late May), although maybe a bit off the usual tracks for New Yorkers.
But, tell me Corey, where were those warblers?
Ah, Jochen…I can talk about warblers again! I saw my first of the year Palm Warbler yesterday evening locally. I just hope he’s doing ok after the snow overnight.
Oh, and I got an email letting me know that Red-headed Woodpeckers have never nested in New York City…so it’s pretty unlikely that this one will stick around much longer.
Oh man, that stinks about the NYPD. It looks like you got great looks though. I’m surprised that I have never been pulled over while birding. I’ve parked in some odd places, sped to find vagrants, and generally disobeyed a few “No Trespassing” signs. It’s not a regular occurrence, but sometimes I just have to explore.
Well, I found your post so inspiring that I got my first-ever speeding ticket today! And it wasn’t even for a Red-headed Woodpecker. We’d gone up to Winkelman to watch Common Black-Hawks and Zone-tailed Hawks, and I was blabbing away as we drove back to Tucson….
Rats.
Rick