After a brief cold and wet spell I made it out to the Falls of the Ohio last Saturday. The Ohio River was rising as were the temperatures which had dipped into the 30 degree mark for a few days. One look around here and there is no doubt that it is autumn in Kentuckiana. The willow leaves were noticeably yellower and many of the trees were in the process of losing their foliage. I was scouting around for what else was different in this environment and spotted this tiny butterfly moving about.
This small whitish butterfly was sipping on something on the sand. I was practically nose to nose with it and recognized that it was a member of the skipper family. Last year was such a banner year for butterflies at the Falls and to my eye…this year was a noticeable drop off. After following this skipper for a few yards I was able to take this image of it. At home I identified it as the Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis) which is considered a very common species. It seemed rather late in the season for a butterfly, but I was able to observe a few rag-tag Buckeye butterflies and a few tattered Viceroys too. Funny how I had never noticed this skipper before. Nevertheless, I felt a sense of personal discovery as though I was the first person ever to see this tiny revelation. It was about this time I heard a distinctive tapping coming from a stand of willow trees. Somewhere a woodpecker was plying its trade.
With its jet-black wings, white body, and bright red bill this bird is easy to identify…it’s the Pied Woodpecker. About this time of year the northern population of this interesting woodpecker begins its southerly migration to the warmer climes of Central America. Although I had added this bird to my “Life List” while on a family trip to Wisconsin…this was the first Pied Woodpecker I have seen at the Falls of the Ohio. I observed it moving up and down the trunks of the willow trees exploring the crevasses in the bark for small insects. It likes to move head down in its search for food like nuthatches are known to do. Every now and then it would use its bill to chip away the wood to uncover the bugs it sought and it seemed quite unconcerned about me taking pictures of it. I snapped as many as I could as I followed it on its path through the woods.
Soon it came to a grove of trees that were covered in wild grape vines. The Pied Woodpecker explored the bark here too, but I saw it augmenting its diet with the tiny fruits this vine was producing. Every once in a while it would make this nasally sound that I tried imitating. Fortunately, this bird didn’t take offense and fly away. Perhaps it “cut me some slack” for at least trying to talk to it in its own language…or at least that was my thought at that moment.
From the vine-covered trees, the woodpecker next flew to a large log with a large exposed root mass. When this tree was living it must have been huge. The Pied Woodpecker didn’t linger here long and I watched its rising and dipping flight pattern as it crossed over the Ohio River into Kentucky. I wonder if I will ever see another of its kind here again? That’s the funny thing. There are birds that are considered common and regularly recorded here that I have yet to see. I’ve seen them elsewhere, but not here at the Falls of the Ohio. That’s the thing about birds…their extreme mobility can make them unpredictable!
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