Cavity Construction

Jeanette and I returned to Wallace Marine Park yesterday to show John West were we saw and photographed the Pileated Woodpecker the day before.  We didn't see it but we did find this busy male Northern Flicker. Jeanette observed that it was excavating the nesting cavity.  I was fortunate enough to catch the nano-second of the chips flying through the air.  If you look closely at this photo, or click on it to enlarge it,  you should be able to see a few specks of sawdust.  Northern Flickers are the builders of the bird world, providing housing for other cavity nesters like chickadees and swallows that don't have the bill size or strength to hollow out a cavity for nesting.