Wouldn't it be cool if the Tribune Tower were made of wood? That woodpecker would be alot happier. Perhaps this woodpecker comes from a lineage of downtown woodpeckers dating back before the Chicago Fire. That's one tough woodpecker.
Holy moly! I hope you're alright!
We had a woodpecker in our yard for a couple of springs when I was growing up. They are really annoying!
Posted by:
Tom on Apr 04, 07 | 8:52 am
i bet woodpeckers aren't as annoying as wind chimes. My neighbor has a windchime in the front and back yard. I'd take any sort of sound of nature over the sound of white trash any day.
Next to
Sniffles,
Woody Woodpecker is my least favorite cartoon character.
Uh, make that
Woody Woodpecker. I'd pay for a DVD of the seldom-seen non-PC classic "Sweet Woody Peckerwood's Badbeak Song," though.
That's a yellow-bellied sapsucker (yes, in the woodpecker family). Nice!
Posted by: on Apr 04, 07 | 10:02 am
Oh, good call, Ferdy! At first we were thinking it was a downy woodpecker (a few similarities to the yellow-bellied sapsucker), but you are absolutely right! We were all so excited to see something other than a pigeon or seagull that we oohed and ahhed over iit for a while. We urbanites are easily amused!
Posted by: Lisa S. on Apr 04, 07 | 12:36 pm
Downy is usually a good call because they are so common. But this one has a lot more red on the head than a downy or a hairy.
I went birding this weekend at the Skokie Lagoons and spotted a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers. They are very cool, too.
Posted by: on Apr 05, 07 | 10:30 am
a yellow-bellied sapsucker. cool. It's neat to know exactly what kind of bird that is. Every once in a while I get some intreresting creatures in my back yard and it's fun to look up exactly what they are.
I kind of wish he'd come back. I miss having something to look out my window at other than stone buildings!
P.S. Did I mention we named him Freddie?
Posted by: Lisa S. on Apr 05, 07 | 11:12 am
Can you open the windows? Find out what woodpeckers like to eat and put it outside the window. Wouldn't it be great to have a birdfeeder haning outside the 14th floor of the Tribune Tower?
Lisa S, You aren't going to like one of the comments on the
flickr page for this photo: "That's odd. I saw a dead woodpecker on Hubbard yesterday morning."
Erik, no. We cannot open our windows. Ever since we had some jumper suicides earlier this decade, they bolted down the windows. Oddly enough the window by my former desk (where I sat for four years) never got bolted down. I dont' know if Tribune was trying to send me a subtle message or not.
Posted by:
spudart on Apr 05, 07 | 11:31 am
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Did the person on Flickr say what kind of woodpecker it was, or at least describe the colorings? I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it! I'd like to think poor Freddie would be smarter than that, but who knows around here.
Unlikely Moose: I know! I totally wish we could open our windows. Wouldn't that be funny to look up at our building and see a bird feeder hanging there? ha ha...
Posted by: Lisa S. on Apr 05, 07 | 11:36 am
Our Freddie is so smart, that the dead woodpecker was a decoy he left behind so he wouldn't get attacked by the hawks that Chicago deploys to cut down on the pigeon population.
Tribune Tower needs bird feeders. We also need a weather kit to have official temperature readings, because Daley shut down Miegs Field with their weather station.
Posted by:
spudart on Apr 05, 07 | 11:40 am
Get a suet feeder for woodpeckers. You'll probably get a few cardinals and other finches, too.
Posted by: on Apr 05, 07 | 11:43 am
Thanks for that, Spudz. I think you're right. If he was smart enough to hang out by us, he's smart enough to have a decoy woodpecker. Daley sends out hawks to get rid of pigeons? What the krunk? What's next, wolves to eliminate squirrels? Of course then we'd have a massive wolf problem. What animal is next on the food chain? Bears? That would make sense with our football team and all, but then you run the risk of getting mauled on your way to work, which I'm guessing the Daley administration would frown upon.
Posted by: Lisa S. on Apr 05, 07 | 12:02 pm
i'm sure you guys heard about the wild coyote that wandered into a downtown Chicago Quizno's, right?
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3006417
The funny thing is that I was in that same Quizno's the day before the coyote walked in. It was my first time there.
To Lisa's point, I'd like to see more animals in downtown Chicago. Here's my vote to placing monkeys around town. That would make for a fun time watching them climb the buildings and general comedy antics with the commuters. "Hey what happened to my lunch?!... Oh the monkey took it!" *slaps forehead, laughs*
Posted by:
spudart on Apr 05, 07 | 12:34 pm
The peregrine falcons aren't Daley's doing. If they were, they'd be overbudget and in the mayor's pocket. These birds were introduced by some the Chicago Pergrine Program and to what used to be part of their natural range. Peregrines are now off the state-endangerd species list, thanks in part to the successful breeding that this project has encouraged. There's a lot of good stuff about them here, though it's slightly outdated:
http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/spring2005/peregrines.htmlPosted by: on Apr 05, 07 | 1:00 pm
I was there when they jumper jumped and when they nailed the windows shut. I thought it was totally ridiculous. If somebody really wanted to jump they could send a desk out the window first and follow it down.
Nailing the windows shut was just putting a Band Aid on the problem, not solving the problem.
Posted by:
Tom on Apr 05, 07 | 2:06 pm
I bet if anyone tried jumping now, the woodpecker would save 'em. He's crazy crafty like that.
Posted by: Lisa S. on Apr 05, 07 | 2:13 pm
Yes, Lisa! The woodpecker COULD save someone. His claws are VERY strong!
Posted by:
spudart on Apr 06, 07 | 12:57 am
