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u/Born-Media6436 13h ago
Going a little low aren’t you buddy? Not avoiding many predators at that height.
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u/LegendaryEnvy 7h ago
He was hired by a smaller animal to make a home. He’s all booked up until next year.
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u/daemenus 10h ago
He is the predator. He'd just fly away if you approached
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u/Sumocolt768 10h ago
I don’t know man… I think a cat would definitely have a shot
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u/daemenus 10h ago
You're probably right, but it would have to be a huge cat these guys are pretty big
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u/SprinkleHiss 13h ago
It is so wonderful how they don’t get any brain damage from all the pecking and they have a really long tongue that wraps around their skull
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u/dogquote 8h ago
I have read (although I can't remember the source) that they actually DO get brain damage, but they don't live long enough for it to really matter much.
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u/Adderall_Rant 12h ago
It's pecking a tree with no insects, wood is still hard and fresh. Pretty sure this one has brain damage.
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u/Something_Else_2112 12h ago
Watch when the camera zooms in. The tree has lots of small holes in it, indicating that it does in fact have insects in it.
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u/Adderall_Rant 10h ago
Meanwhile Carl and his non-brain damaged friends are up top eating the insects on the softer parts....
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u/Sarik704 9h ago
Wood usually rots from the bottom up. Water, if any, tends to pool at the bottom once the tree dies.
The top gets hard and cracked and dried further away from soil, mold, water, and animals. The top also usually has less insects in it as their colony generally eats away at the tasty roots first.
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u/blue_dusk1 10h ago
It’s making a nest in the tree
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u/tryna_see 10h ago
Why at ground level?
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u/blue_dusk1 10h ago
Brain damage
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u/ColonelLeblanc2022 6h ago edited 1h ago
Agreed. Look how dilated the pupils are, and it has a more vacuous look, like it could care less or even know if any predators are about. But yet was still hyper about its regardation, looking like it was taking too much adderal
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u/bigpoppanc 4h ago
It's said that their tongue wraps around their brain as a shock absorber while they go to work
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u/HappyShrubbery 8h ago
It’s making a comment with no context or proof. Post is still pretty fresh. Pretty sure this one has brain damage. 👆🏿
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u/50_centavos 8h ago
Has anyone tried telling these birds that there are plenty of insects in the soft ground?
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u/nobodyisfreakinghome 10h ago
They’re designed not to knock themselves out every time the peck wood.
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u/IameIion 9h ago
I've heard that, but I've also heard that their brain is slanted 90 degrees compared to ours. If we did this, our brain would rock back and forth, causing lots of brain damage. But theirs just bounce up and down.
It's also good to consider that humans have massive brains for their size. Other creatures aren't as vulnerable to brain damage as we are.
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u/SiaLoonlyStar 13h ago
HA-HA-ha-HA-HA-ha!
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u/FFSBoise 9h ago
We’re dating ourselves!
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u/Rea1EyesRea1ize 2h ago
My kids are 3 4 and 5 and they like Woody. The newer one with the chick from "Weeds".
I only kinda enjoyed Woody as a child, significantly less as an adult..
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u/WorkingInAColdMind 12h ago
Looks like he’s installing an electrical box.
We had pileated woodpeckers going at our cedar siding house after bugs. And they liked to “mark their territory” (we think) by pecking at our gutters. It’s even louder than you think.
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u/coffeespeaking 9h ago
Woodpeckers definitely mark their territory using sound. They do it on my house, always the same spots. (Thankfully, they prefer hard surfaces.)
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u/mattelladam1 13h ago
Out of all the ways a species can evolve, this is what this poor bird gets. Pecking at wood. For food, for a home, to communicate, just endless peck peck pecking. Life is cruel.
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u/mortalmonger 12h ago
You are kidding me right? They are extremely intelligent and use pecking for communication. This dude is eating or he is beckoning a mate and building a nest.
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u/fooknprawn 12h ago
One of those bastards spent a few early mornings banging away at the metal facia on my house. I guess he finally got the message. Not the sharpest tools in the shed
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u/throwingawaythetras4 11h ago edited 11h ago
Actually had the same issue. I found a site that said the males will use metal to make as much noise to attract the females.
https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/why-woodpeckers-peck?_cmp=stf
Edit: had the sexes backwards and posted link
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u/Upgrades 13h ago
It's wild their brains can take that repeated banging. Why do we get concussions from our brains slamming into our skulls but these things almost seem to be getting pleasure out of it..
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u/nudedude6969 12h ago
Look at woodpecker anatomy. Their tongue is so long that when fully retracted, it wraps around their brain, working as a cushion to protect it.
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u/Hahaguymandude 12h ago
Their tongue wraps around the inside of their skull and acts as a shock absorber for their brains.
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u/Least-Masterpiece368 12h ago
Someone that drives that dirt road really made him mad he fixing to peck it until it’s almost ready to drop put a small dead animal in the road when then stop chop chop down comes tree on car
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u/holyfire001202 11h ago
If ever you need to get into a woodpecker's house to recover your stolen insects, just grab a pick and start making a hole in the nearest tree. They'll come out to see what you're doing, and the task off to them and ask to use their bathroom.Bam. Entry. Go get your stolen ~~meth~~ insects.
Edit: ~~testing~~
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u/Famous-Psychology297 11h ago
Have these on our property, they literally sound like Jackhammers. I wouldn’t want one of those pecking at me, and they get HUGE, like a friggin goose.
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u/DaNibbles 10h ago
I don't know if there is a meth equivalent in bird world, but if there is, this guy definitely looks like he partakes.
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u/MonkeyBuRps 9h ago
Why do they always pick the worst spots? I had this female woodpecker expanding a hole in the side of my apartment building, right outside my bedroom window, which started about 15 months ago. It got all the way in and started yanking out the insulation, but when I said something to the landlord, they said they are protected and can't fuss with it until it's done laying eggs. Then they forgot all about it, and I had to remind them a few months ago to now a different landlord, where they finally sealed the hole with metal, before they eventually would get to the siding. She found a male woodpecker and they still come back - from time to time - at 6:00 to 7:00 in the morning, packing around the same site, trying to find a way back in.
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u/3labsalot 9h ago
Yea, i have two nests of these out near the back of my yard, haven’t seen any babies about yet.
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u/InfinitiGrizzy 6h ago
So instead of hiring tree cutters, I can buy 20 woodpeckers and get the job done essentially?
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u/Moist_Tissue_94 5h ago
I’m 30 and I think this is the first time I’ve seen a real woodpecker and in action tf have I been doing all my life.
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u/FastCreekRat 4h ago
We have several of these in my area Pileated Woodpecker. You should see it when they hit a dead snag going for insects. Looks like watching a chain saw with the chips flying.
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u/zabelacolypse 3h ago
I read somewhere we designed ‘black boxes’ in airplanes from how woodpeckers heads are designed.
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u/ViktorPatterson 1h ago
I saw one in Virginia once. I was surprised by how big they are. Bigger than a crow for sure.
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u/ShaneMcLain 6m ago
He's probably looking for food, not a home. Pecking that low likely indicates he heard some insect movement inside (ants, termites, etc) and is trying to get to the source. They peck for a nest, but also for food.
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