The sun is up and the plump young woodpecker has the bird feeder to itself.
Black and white stripes with a hint of red on his head.
Woodpeckers are famously shy, so it’s a treat to see it.
It is replaced by a small round bird–a youngster too and oblivious to the dangers of…
…a large buzzard, sitting atop a tree surveying, checking out the potential pickins.
I’m up early waiting for our plumber, Lionel, to arrive to fix the boiler–again.
Seems a mundane thing to be saying when the world is going mad, thousands are dying, coffins pile up at crematoriums, doctors, nurses and health workers risk their lives with inadequate supplies of equipment and politicians flounder, repeating the mantra–“we are working 24/7“.
I feel like screaming when I hear health ministers trotting it out–no surprise nurses and doctors on the front line are beginning to scream. Bit like sending the Tommies over the top without rifles at the Battle of the Somme.
Lethal incompetence, calculated unpreparedness, criminal negligence?
It’s a scandal!
Matt Hancock (UK Health Secretary) should do a nursing shift in an Intensive Care Unit.
FYI– and I’m sure you are on tenterhooks–Lionel turned up and we are awaiting replacement parts–a certain irony there.
Of course the delay in our case is not potentially fatal; just means boiling the kettle to wash our hands.
Robin Ellis 
Bill Gates gave a TED talk in 2015 predicting the possibility of a pandemic like this. No-one listened. You can Google it. It’s amazing! Watching your woodpecker is a beautiful thing, which helps a lot at this time in this crazy world. Thank you Robin. Joan Ryan Australia
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Hi Joan!
Lovely pic of woodpecker. Heard the cuckoo here (Vendée) last Sunday but no swallows yet.
I agree it’s shameful how some leaders have delayed too long in keeping up necessary supplies to those brave people working in the front lines and mandatory quarantine the public to try to slow the rise of Covid-19. Message: Stay home, stay safe and stay healthy
I was delighted to see the picture of the Downy Woodpecker. I have them daily at my feeder. Yesterday I was totally entranced to have a new visitor: a Pileated Woodpecker! There he was in all his splendor, inches away from me as I ate my breakfast by the window. My camera, phone and tablet were nowhere near me to take a picture, so I sat without moving and watched him eating the cake of suet and seed. His forked tail held against the bottom of the feeder kept him steady while he gobbled up the food with his powerful beak. After a few moments he flew to the big poplar tree in the back yard and put some of the food behind the bark. No doubt that was lunch.
I had had a bad night’s sleep and was pondering the world’s dire dilemma. Somehow Mr. Woodpecker gave me a message of hope. Life goes on and it will be ok. The rest of the day went along just fine and I was reminded of the Bible verse that the Lord takes care of the birds of the air and will take care of us. Thanks Mr. Woodpecker.
Robin and Meredith-A smile from Randy Rainbow amid the chaos. The political satire is almost non-existent here, it should offend nobody- almost a public service message: re social isolation “Stay the F–k Inside.” The song is from DIsney’s Hercules: “I Will Go the Distance.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WimbyL_25Nw
Robin, Commiserations to you on the lack of hot water. I have heard that soap and even cold water has been found the best defense again Covid-19. Also some small comfort if you cannot find antiseptic spray in the shops. Keep watching the wildlife and stay safe.
Robin: A lovely photo, and it did pick me up. Went to the supermarket this morning and then to the drug store for some metformin for Peggy. Both shops largely empty except for clerks stocking the shelves, almost all of whom wore face masks. I had a mask in my pocket but was ashamed to put it on. I wore rubber glove though, and we now have enough in the house to last till the weekend. At the drug store they had put tape on the floor about 3 feet back. You were supposed to stand behind it while waiting for your prescription. As diabetics you and Peggy are both in the target zone and I worry about you both. I of course, being a combination of Superman and Hercules, am immune, have nothing to worry about. —Bob
I’m sure you are right, Bob–Superman wouldn’t be seen dead in a mask and Hercules couldn’t have kept it on, doing all that labouring!
We are hunkered down with Meredith doing the shopping–for a change!
yes and our president says No one could predict this happening when in fact many people have predicted it happening. He’s a doolally of the first order.
I am just loving the birds coming back to Minnesota! Our friends live in a converted old church building, with a steeple. The woodpeckers make nests IN the steeple, and it’s really too high up for our friends to get them out of there. But we love all the birds who frequent our feeder year round. It really is Spring, even if it doesn’t feel quite like it.
Take care!
Hope you and Meredith are staying well. and your fur babies.
Hope you and Meredith are doing well. And yourfurbabies
Beautiful photo of a woodpecker. In England you mainly see the green ones. Today, a beautiful, warm, sunny, spring day I hear curlews, lapwings, a burbling grouse and skylarks on my walk in North Yorkshire.
There are good times, Vicky!
Thanks for sharing your photo of your beautiful woodpecker!
Best wishes that your boiler may be fixed soon.
Thanks, Mary–new boiler beckons!
Yer darn tootin Robin! Agree with you whole heartedly. It’s heart breaking watching the news day after day (esp. my home state of Washington) and seeing suffering and fear. I’ll close for now because I am so mad I’ll just start swearing. Aloha
PS say hello to your cute Meredith and cats!
Oh no! Hopefully Lionel can work his magic on the cantankerous boiler!
Thanks, Mary–new boiler beckons!
Thank you for sharing.
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Too late to send Matt Hancock to the ICU, unless he becomes a patient. Either way he might learn something.