By Miles
Today, my dad and I drove to the Chilao Visitor Center in the Angeles National Forest. We were looking for the special birds often spotted there – the White-headed Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch, and Hairy Woodpecker.
We first went to the visitor center, got some interesting things, and asked the staff where to find our targets today. The staff said that there were lots of them right outside of the visitor center, but we only found the Pygmy Nuthatch and didn’t get even a sound from the other two. So, we followed the route my dad went on last spring on a PAS field trip.
There was a Red-breasted Sapsucker, some Brown Creepers, and really a lot of Pygmy Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees. There were sometimes more than three Pygmy Nuthatches on a single tree. So cool! As we approached the junction where my dad thought he saw the white-head woodpecker last year, we finally spotted an unusual woodpecker. It had a long bill and a clear belly. It is a Hairy Woodpecker! But after several seconds, a Northern Flicker landed and chased away the Hairy Woodpecker. Then, several seconds later, a Northern Mockingbird jumped up and chased away the Northern Flicker. It is so funny how it changed species so many times in just a few seconds!
But after several minutes of searching around the junction, we still didn’t find the White-headed Woodpecker. Then, suddenly a black woodpecker flaw into a tree right in front of us, a White-headed Woodpecker! It climbed down the tree and seemed to really enjoy going backward down the tree instead of climbing up like the other woodpeckers. After several minutes of feeding, it flew down onto another tree and joined another White-headed Woodpecker. As we followed them, they stopped on a big pine tree and started to mate! Then they flew to several other trees, and when they started feeding and dancing (actually just shaking their heads together), two other White-headed Woodpeckers joined them and started a great fight. They chased, called, and flapped their wings. Finally, two of them lost the battle and flew away. It was truly an incredible performance, full of unexpected moments and natural drama!
Then we went back to the visitor center, saw a tiny chipmunk nearby, and went back home.
Pygmy Nuthatch is a tiny passerine, a lot smaller than a Yellow-rumped Warbler, with a typical Nuthatch shape. It has a black line going through its eye to the shoulder, while its head is all brown above it and all white below. Its back is blueish-gray and its wing and tail are all black. Its belly and breast are all white. They are usually in the coniferous forests in the mountains of the western part of North America, in small groups, feeding on insects and seeds.
Hairy Woodpecker is a medium-sized climbing bird, one-and-a-half the size of a Yellow-rumped Warbler, with a typical woodpecker shape and medium-long bill. It has a black line going through its eye, a black cap, and a black malar stripe (males have a patch of red on the back of their crown). The middle of its back is white. Except for it, the back is entirely black. Its wing feathers are black with white spots on it and its tail is black with white outer feathers. Except for all of this, it’s all white. They are usually in the well-grown forests in most parts of North America, feeding on insects and sometimes fruits, seeds, and saps.
