Sharing Camp with a Red-Breasted Sapsucker

In May we shared our campsite on the Sunshine Coast with a pair of red-breasted sapsuckers. Busy birds they were, excavating a nest above us and feeding in the surrounding cedars. Photo opportunities were rare, as the birds never stopped moving.

My favorite bird website, run by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, tells us the sapsuckers were once shot as orchard pests. Oh, how shortsighted we can be. They’re protected now, and apparently populations have stabilized. But they need those dead snags for nesting, which is why I oppose the type of clear-cutting that removes everything, like a shaved head, for economy. Leave wildlife habitat, please.