A Visitor at a Kentucky Coffeetree

taptaptap

The dry, methodical tapping from nearby was the sound of a woodpecker looking for lunch. This was not the assertive, noisy drumming indicating a woodpecker asserting its territory to others, but a quiet, workmanlike tap against something that made a dry rattle.

I stopped to look around, and observed a little Downy Woodpecker, barely larger than a sparrow, clinging to the flattened seedpod of a Kentucky Coffeetree and tapping away. When one pod yielded nothing of interest, it moved on to another and another. Fly, cling, taptaptap. Fly, cling, taptaptap. It would try from the front; it would try along the seams. It would hang upside-down and try from underneath.

When it had apparently exhausted every pod dangling from the naked limbs, the little black-and-white woodpecker flew off in search of a more satisfying meal. It was a charming display, one of those little dramatic events in nature that makes you stop and watch until the actor moves out of sight.

I couldn’t find any record of the seed pods of Kentucky Coffeetree being utilized as food by woodpeckers (or any extant creature), as the raw seeds are said to be toxic. There is a sweet liquid inside the pods–perhaps the woodpecker was getting a taste of that? Or perhaps there are insects or larvae making a winter home on or within the pods?

The following week I saw another (or the same) Downy Woodpecker visiting the seedpods of Kentucky Coffeetree, again moving from one pod to another until chased off by a more aggressive woodpecker (who did not seem to share an interest in the seedpods).

Originally published in Sycamore Greenway Friends.