Ermahgerd, you guys, it’s baby witches butter!
This was at the entrance to the Temple Pond trail at Lord Hill Regional Park. That place has become our go-to spot for winter hiking. There are so many trails we haven’t even seen them all, and we’ve been out there several times. This time around, we did a bunch of the ponds, and it was perfectly lovely. We saw a woodpecker, and heard owls, and visited about a billion ponds (okay, maybe four or five). I’ll be doing up a full guide someday, but it’ll have to wait until after we’ve finished exploring the trails a few times.
Just down the trail, we found a couple of logs loaded with wood mushrooms.
I love it when the colonize the entire log, including the end.
We were much further down the trail, deep in the urban wilderness, when we encountered our woodpecker. I think I know what sort of woodpecker it is, but am not completely sure, and will leave this video and blurry photo in your hands so that you can employ your own talents.
All I’m going to say about my suspicions is laundry.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to negotiate my release from the cat. She has decided my lap is hers, and I am not to get up for food, beverage, or bathroom.
If you don’t hear from me again, you’ll know I died of dehydration. Sigh.
Downy Woodpecker, probably relatively juvenile.
The hairy woodpecker. The northwest variety apparently has less white along the back. Oh, and I would guess it’s a female, though once again, video quality leaves something to be desired in colour definition. ;)
I agree, hairy woodpecker. The downy woodpecker is similar looking but smaller and appears to have a relatively shorter bill.
That’s an amazing number of cavities in that tree it’s on. Sort of a Swiss cheese tree.