Nibble ... nibble ... nibble

This photo was taken one week ago, on 4 December 2014, when I went for a short walk in Fish Creek Park. I was trying to do several short walks to see if it made any difference at all to the level of pain in my back (had back X-Rays taken two days ago, for the umpteenth time). The weather has been beautiful this week, too – we all know that it is going to change back to “winter” before too long. Still 10 days till WInter officially begins. Also, a short time in the park can (if you are lucky!) be simply amazing.

I happened to come across a female Pileated Woodpecker near the base of a tree. Almost impossible to get a sharp photo because she just didn’t stop banging her head against the tree. While I was trying to catch one split second when the action actually slowed down, a much smaller bird flew over my head and landed on the same tree, about 4’ higher. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that it was a male Black-backed Woodpecker (rare in Alberta, just like the two American Three-toed Woodpeckers that I saw in a different part of the park, on two different days this week). Talk about being lucky! Even this little Red Squirrel was most obliging, sitting in a spot of sunshine in the forest. The sun really brings out their beautiful colour.