Blackbacked Woodpecker Sighting

Lee Foster, Birding Guide-I was wandering around Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B property with my binoculars yesterday, the 30^th of October, in the vicinity of ongoing beaver activity on poplar creek when I saw a woodpecker amongst the dead birches along the slope. I identified it as a Blackbacked Woodpecker. The head had a yellow top knot and the back was completely black with no white as would be seen on the three toed woodpecker. It was hammering away at the scaly bark of the dead birch and curiously, a downy woodpecker had arrived, and had perched itself about ten inches below the Blackbacked on the tree as if waiting for a morsel to fall, or maybe it was just out of curiosity. A moment later both were gone.

Normally the Blackbacked is seen in recently burned over areas. With a section of the May 2007 Ham Lake Fire burn only about five miles west of Poplar Creek this bird had apparently just ventured into our area and finding a dead tree here to its liking made itself at home.