(updated 06/21/19)  

We have TWO “What Is It” questions this time:

No. 1:

Can you guess what caused this deep hole in a tree discovered by friends, Lynne and Doug, near their home “down the road” from Frisbee?

(answer shown below)

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Here’s another shot:

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Got it?

“It’s” the work of a Pileated Woodpecker,
The Woody Woodpecker type!
(Carpenter ants in fallen trees and stumps are its major food)

Below is a photo of one of our resident males shortly after he messed up his flight pattern and hit the side of our house in 2016.  When this photo was taken, he was loudly responding to his mate in the woods obviously saying he would be home a little late after his accident.  They called back and forth for awhile until he was strong enough to fly back home.   (whew!)

From time-to-time, we see one of these beautiful large (and loud) woodpeckers in our yard.  We have many dead trees but he enjoys attacking the decaying white birch tree stump in our front yard.   It appears our buddy is basically shy and leaves the scene as soon as Spouse of Farmer Tom arrives with camera in hand.

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No. 2:   It may seem a little difficult to understand what we are asking, but can you figure out what happened to this “well cared for” compost pile?

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At the far north of our property, Farmer Tom prepares composting for plant nourishment.
This year, it appears a gourd vine has called this location home and is, indeed, healthy!  We conclude the compost pile has most likely become a pumpkin patch!

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