I usually keep the nerdy birdies till last but not this one! It's probably the most difficult woodpecker to find in Europe (Three-toed Woodpecker) - unless you go to exactly the right place, eg, here in Poland, in the primeval Bialowiesa Forest. My heart was in my mouth! And to get photos like these too ... unrepeatable. More birdy pics at the end.
(bit too dark but shows its distinctive yellow crown)
MIKE! - this one's a bit dead ... guess what it was?
Primeval or wot!? This Polish forest, right on the border with Belarus in the East, is appatrently globally unique as an ecosystem. It felt like it. I've never been in a wood like this. The pic shows one unique feature: spruce trees growing and creating dry islands in an otherwise wetland area. This happens because 200 years before the trees started growing on another (dead) tree stump and created these little dry patches around themselves. What a place!
Irek, my primeval guide ... you need one of these to visit the closed "Special Protected Area" where we found the woodpecker above. Thanks Irek!
Red- lipped (?) bracket fungus - size of car wheel!
Other birds in Bialowiesa Collared Flycatcher, Red Breasted Flycatcher and other more common chaps like treecreeper (NOT short-toed!) and Gt Spotted Woodpecker and ...
Middle Spotted Woodpecker!
I know it looks stuffed in this one - but its a middle spotted leaving the nest hole - honest!
No comments:
Post a Comment