Three-toed Woodpecker at its Nesthole

The second day of our birding tour to southern Lapland. We were perhaps 50 kilometers north of Stockholm, with woodpeckers and owls our main goals. This female Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)was the only challenging woodpecker we saw, but it is a really special one--not at all easy to get. Our guides knew of this nest; we staked it out, and it not too long before it came. (It has been split as a separate species from the American Three-toed Woodpecker relatively recently.)

We also approached a nest of black woodpeckers, but couldn't wait long and no one appeared. We fared better with owls, getting very good looks at a Great Grey Owl and a Pygmy Owl. Finally, in the late afternoon we joined two men who regularly band (or ring, for the Brits) Ural Owls, and saw them band a total of four chicks at two nest boxes, monitored by the respective female ural owl parents--each of which flew down to attack the bander approaching the nest, who was wearing a helmet and a protective jacket as a matter of routine. Quite a dramatic end to a marvelous day of birding.