While we have many year round woodpeckers that grace northern Minnesota’s presence year round, late June and July are the time of Woodpecker Wonder! These neat birds which drill holes in trees are finishing up their nesting and fledging their young. It is fun to watch the young woodpeckers stick their heads out nesting holes as their parents load them up with food. However, this sight requires one to find woodpecker holes which is no easy task.

Yesterday I made a trip over to the Wisconsin Grasslands (Cloverland, Wisconsin) and the Johnson Mitigation Wetlands. This neat habitat area is dramatically different from my Boreal Forest in NE Minnesota, and only a 35 minute drive! As a added bonus, for the past few years I have always been able to find Red Headed Woodpeckers in this area. A review of the range map from Cornell demonstrates my region is at the extreme northern edge of this woodpecker’s range.

Two visits within the last week have yielded a Red Headed pair, and I have their nesting area determined to about a 100×100 foot square. I will find the hole! I’ve made some maps such that you may enjoy this area!

This second map is specific to the Red Headed Woodpeckers. The lines indicate areas where I have repeatedly seen these birds feeding on fence posts and telephone poles.

I also found a tree from which an American Kestrel hunts. It’s nice to capture an image of the Sparrowhawk not on a power line.

Finally, when I returned to my home on Amity Creek, back in the Boreal Forest, another woodpecker demanded equal access from my camera. While trying to track down my Pileated Woodpecker nest hole, this Sapsucker gave me some great photo opps!