{"id":7305,"date":"2013-03-22T12:32:52","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T19:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=7305"},"modified":"2013-03-22T17:14:32","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T00:14:32","slug":"hard-luck-woodpecker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=7305","title":{"rendered":"Hard-luck woodpecker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is a tale of a Pileated Woodpecker and two Merlins.<\/p>\n<p>A woodpecker was calling, so I wandered around until I found it in a tree beside a field.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7312\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/pileatedwoodpecker130321as.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As I watched, the woodpecker flew across the field and made an unfortunate choice for a\u00a0new tree.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7311\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/pileatedwoodpecker130321bs.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><br \/>\nAlas, the unpropitious tree\u00a0was already occupied by a Merlin.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7307\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/merlin130321as.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although the Merlin is about half the weight of the Pileated Woodpecker, it is a falcon which specializes in capturing and eating other birds. The Merlin dove.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7313\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/merlinflight130321s.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/>It was only later that my pictures showed that the woodpecker had had two Merlins to contend with&#8212;not good.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7315\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/merlins130321s3.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"361\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Wisely, the Pileated Woodpecker beat a hasty retreat.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7310\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/pileatedwoodpecker130321cs.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One of the Merlins then raised a claw as if to say: &#8220;Bear this in mind if you ever decide to return.&#8221;<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7306\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/merlin130321bs.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Unconcerned by the petty squabbling of these smaller birds was a Red-tailed Hawk, a raptor that outweighs the Merlin by a factor of six.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7314\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/redtailedhawk130321s.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; This is a tale of a Pileated Woodpecker and two Merlins. A woodpecker was calling, so I wandered around until I found it in a tree beside a field. As I watched, the woodpecker flew across the field and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=7305\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7305"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7322,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions\/7322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}