Peckers

I've mentioned before there are a lot of dead trees in the groves nearby my house on Öland. This makes it a good place for woodpeckers to feed, I see and hear them quite a lot, there's even one visiting my old cherry tree right outside my window. The Blip shows an old tree growing at the entrance of one of the groves, visited not only by woodpeckers, but also by other animals with bugs and larva on their menu. 

I have an ambition to learn a bit about birds. It would be so nice to be able to recognise what's flying about out there but I find it difficult to remember all the details you need to know if you want to pinpoint a certain species of bird. So far I'm not doing very good I think, for me it would work best to spend time out there together with someone who already knows a lot and wanted to share wisdom with me but I haven't been in situations where that happens naturally so, my progress is very slow. 

One woodpecker species I've learnt to recognise is Dendrocopos major, "Större hackspett" in Swedish, because it's the most common one around here. The other week I saw one that I have not seen either before or after because it is less common, the Dendrocopos minor, "Mindre hackspett" in Swedish. So I've seen the bigger and smaller ones but there's a third kind, very rare here, yes you guessed it, the Dendrocopos medius or "Mellanspett" in Swedish, the in between sized one. Then you need to distinguish between the male and females and the young or old ones too who all looks a bit different and then it sort of gets a bit too much for me to learn but, at least I have an ambition and I've bought the birdbook you're supposed to have. 

They are nice to see and hear anyway, without knowing what they're called. I can't tell the difference between a Norwegian and a Danish person either just by looking at them, the important thing seems to be to learn how to live side by side with every living creature in respect to each others needs.