A pileated woodpecker is causing a bit of a ruckus for one Alnwick/Haldimand Township family over the last week.
Kevin and Stacy Warner live on Danforth Road East and for the past several days they’ve had a visitor dropping by their backyard.
The woodpecker seems to have taken a liking to a Maple tree stump.
The family wouldn’t really have an issue with the woodpecker, but Kevin has carved a fairy home at the front of the stump for his granddaughters.
With the woodpecker decimating the stump it won’t be long before the fairy house is gone.
The couples granddaughters have their hearts in the right place, but can’t seem to find the right answer.
They love watching the woodpecker, but it’s destroying the fairy home.
Kevin even has tried to put gnomes in the holes the woodpecker has created in hopes that would detract the bird – but it hasn’t.
Late Sunday afternoon, Kevin put up fencing around the stump so the bird will find another. For now the fairy house and stump are off limits.
The pileated woodpecker is native to North America and is the largest confirmed extant woodpecker species in North America.
Pileated woodpeckers mainly eat insects, especially carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae. They also eat frutis, nuts and berries including poison ivy berries.
They often chip out large and roughly rectangular holes in trees while searching out insects.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
