Activities

Link to 2010 Calendar

May 24/2010

Geocache Activity 660

FIND 602

IDENTIFICATION

GC1J32X

Feature Creature – Pileated Woodpecker

N 53° 33.882 W 114° 27.732

Difficulty 2; Terrain 2; size small; Creator: Belfrypotters Date First Hidden: 11/10/2008 Date Last Found: 5/16/2010
rural

Description
Wabamun Lake Provincial Park This is the woodpecker that was the inspiration for the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, and if you’ve ever heard the call of a pileated woodpecker you’ll understand why. Its call is a loud maniacal laugh that can be heard from considerable distance. In flight it looks like a cross between a crow and a pterodactyl. It is the largest woodpecker in North America, and with its black and white plumage and striking red crest it is unmistakable. A pileated woodpecker’s favorite food is carpenter ants, but it also eats other wood-boring insects as well as berries and nuts. When looking for a meal the pileated woodpecker listens for ant activity inside a tree, then uses its beak to drill a hole in the tree to where ants are chewing the wood. It then extracts each tasty ant with its long, sticky, barbed tongue. Although you likely won’t see a pileated woodpecker while you are here, the trees bear evidence that a pair calls this forest home; many of the standing and fallen trees here have woodpecker-drilled holes. Pileated woodpeckers also have a fondness for suet, and are frequent visitors to suet feeders in the winter.Pileated woodpeckers are cavity nesters, and need large dead or dying trees in which to excavate their nest hole. The large aspen tree near the cache has an old pileated woodpecker nest hole, high up on the south side of the tree. Old nest holes are used by a variety of other cavity-nesting animals, including kestrels, saw-whet owls, goldeneye and bufflehead ducks, flying squirrels, bluebirds, and tree swallows, so it is important to preserve standing dead trees in the forest.The cache is a medium-sized Lock & Lock, stocked with bird-related trade items. No need to keep to the theme, though.

Hint
six meters NE of the large aspen with the nest hole

Comments

PLANNING

We planned to visit a cemetery in the Barrhead area as part of some genealogical research. I made a route that would also include visits to 3 provincial parks where I identified a geocache that we could search for. This is part of my goal to eventually find caches in 60 provincial parks. I downloaded the cache coordinates for the 3 sites and was ready to go. This was the third search for the day.

OUTCOME

I had some difficulty with the GPS at this location. I would often walk 20 or 30 meters without it registering any change in my location. However I was finally able to identify the tree with the nest holes and then finding the cache was easy.

Here is my posting to the geocaching.com website:

My second provincial park cache for the day. TNLNSL. TFTC.

Here are a few photos:

park boundary (rear entrance)

approaching the cache area

cache location (wood removed)

nosweat6060

I am 3/3 for today. This was the 8th provincial park where I have found at least one cache. I just noticed while making this web page that my posting indicated that this my second provincial park of the day when it should have said it was my third. Not a serious mistake.

Link to 2010 Calendar

Link to Index

GC1J32X	Feature Creature – Pileated Woodpecker	N 53° 33.882 W 114° 27.732
	Difficulty 2; Terrain 2; size small; Creator: Belfrypotters Date First Hidden: 11/10/2008 Date Last Found: 5/16/2010	rural
Description	Wabamun Lake Provincial Park This is the woodpecker that was the inspiration for the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, and if you’ve ever heard the call of a pileated woodpecker you’ll understand why. Its call is a loud maniacal laugh that can be heard from considerable distance. In flight it looks like a cross between a crow and a pterodactyl. It is the largest woodpecker in North America, and with its black and white plumage and striking red crest it is unmistakable. A pileated woodpecker’s favorite food is carpenter ants, but it also eats other wood-boring insects as well as berries and nuts. When looking for a meal the pileated woodpecker listens for ant activity inside a tree, then uses its beak to drill a hole in the tree to where ants are chewing the wood. It then extracts each tasty ant with its long, sticky, barbed tongue. Although you likely won’t see a pileated woodpecker while you are here, the trees bear evidence that a pair calls this forest home; many of the standing and fallen trees here have woodpecker-drilled holes. Pileated woodpeckers also have a fondness for suet, and are frequent visitors to suet feeders in the winter.Pileated woodpeckers are cavity nesters, and need large dead or dying trees in which to excavate their nest hole. The large aspen tree near the cache has an old pileated woodpecker nest hole, high up on the south side of the tree. Old nest holes are used by a variety of other cavity-nesting animals, including kestrels, saw-whet owls, goldeneye and bufflehead ducks, flying squirrels, bluebirds, and tree swallows, so it is important to preserve standing dead trees in the forest.The cache is a medium-sized Lock & Lock, stocked with bird-related trade items. No need to keep to the theme, though.
Hint	six meters NE of the large aspen with the nest hole
Comments