"Look honey, our woodpecker is back!"

When we lived on Roncesvalles, our wildlife experience was limited to pigeons, cockroaches, mice and the odd possum or raccoon. Now that we're up by Cedarvale Ravine, we've been host to a whole new set of critters! My favourite is the resident woodpecker that spends his days at the very top of our tree. I'm not sure where he's been for the last couple months (I assume he flew south or hibernated or whatever for the winter) but he's totally back!

If like me, you are have never had a woodpecker before, you probably thought they looked like this:

Turns out, there are several different kinds. I'm pretty sure that our is a Hairy Woodpecker or Picoides Villosus. He looks like  this:

My Google searching has turned up the following information about our new friend:

1) He's a dude - Only the male woodpeckers have the red spots on them.
2) He pecks because he's hungry - Woodpeckers feast on sap and bugs under the bark of the tree.
3) When he finds a lady, they will most likely have babies in our tree - This type of bird will make a big hole in the tree to lay eggs in once he has found a mate.
4) He may start to peck our house - Woodpeckers have been known to peck the wooden parts of your house  to get at bugs and such. Guess we won't be putting wooden siding on the addition!

Pretty cool, huh?