Regular run yields rare bird sighting

Although I visit specific locations just to find birds (and enjoy nature), often my birding is done as a secondary pursuit while I’m out getting exercise. Although this is not always conducive to obtaining the maximum number of sightings, it can yield unexpected rewards.

This was so one evening last week. I had enjoyed a good run on one of the many trails in the University (Orono) Forest. Cooling off, I took a trail that passed through a stand of pine and spruce trees. I walked slowly, enjoying the stillness of the forest and the occasional red-hued deciduous tree among the somber greens of the conifers. Presently I heard the arrhythmic tapping of a woodpecker searching for food. I automatically assumed it’d be either a downy or hairy woodpecker, which are quite common around there. But a quick glimpse told me otherwise: this bird lacked the mottled white pattern on its back and head. Instead, its back was the color of soot, and its head was crowned with a bright yellow crest. It was a black-backed woodpecker, sightings of which are not very common at all.

I knew instantly what it was because I had seen one before. The occasion was a Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon board meeting at a fellow board member’s house. We were seated near windows that provided views of the surrounding trees, so we all saw the woodpecker when it flew onto the trunk of a spruce. This galvanized everyone into action as people leapt from chairs, scrambling to get a better view. You never saw people move so fast as a room full of birders at the sight of an uncommon bird.

The scene replayed itself in my mind as I watched the bird in the forest that evening. It was foraging on a downed, dead spruce tree that lay perpendicular to the trail. Slowly it worked its way toward me; the end of the tree was only a few feet in front of me – would it come that close? Unfortunately I never found out because at that moment, a group of runners sprinted by and the bird flew farther into the trees.

I waited until the coast was clear, then followed. The bird had flown to another spruce tree, this one also dead but still upright. It began awkwardly hitching itself up the trunk, circling it while it tapped experimentally at several spots.

Finally, it seemed to find what it was searching for and began to pound in earnest, prying beneath pieces of bark to get at its probable target: wood-boring insects.

I inched forward slowly. The bird knew I was there, but seemed to consider me harmless as long as I walked slowly and didn’t make any abrupt moves. I was able to get within five feet of his tree and was almost hit by a flying piece of bark he flung with gusto in his haste to get a meal.

This ability to use such force when hunting for its meal is made possible by several adaptations that other woodpeckers, such as the downy and hairy woodpeckers, lack. Black-backed woodpeckers are able to angle their bodies in such a way as to increase their percussive momentum and force. In this they are aided by the structure of the toes, which allows for more grip and leverage. Also, the black-backed woodpecker (and the similar, obviously-named three-toed woodpecker) are unique among woodpeckers because they have three toes instead of the usual four. This also increases the amount of force they are able to employ when excavating for food.

I watched the woodpecker until the unseasonable mosquitoes found me, and I left the bird to its meal in the gathering twilight.

NEWS bird columnist Chris Corio can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net