Photo of the Week - April 9, 2011

Get outside before Spring has Sprung!

Pileated Woodpecker Excavations
Dryocopus pileatus

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

• The Pileated Woodpecker digs characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half

• The feeding excavations of a Pileated Woodpecker are so extensive that they often attract other birds. Other woodpeckers, as well as House Wrens, may come and feed there.

There are lots of wonders awaiting you if you step outside this week or next. The natural world is in full blown transition from Winter into Spring. Birds are migrating, establishing territories and finding mates. Spring plants are emerging and blooming in all their tender glory. Come out and enjoy the awakening.

Native Bleeding Heart

Dicentra formosa

Check out the King County Native Plant Guide 

Deer Fern

Blechnum spicant

Trillium

Trillium ovatum