I Spy Something Red!

 

It's not always possible to find answers to your questions when you view your photos from a hike.

But it sure is fun when you do!

So what happened to the red berry?

 

We saw the Red-bellied Woodpecker with a red berry in his beak in one of my photos.

And then we found it stashed away in a little crevice of the old snag of a tree when we looked at hubby's photos. Of course the most interesting part of the photo is the yummy snack the woodpecker has pulled out of the top of the tree. But do you see the red berry above?

It seems like we see Woodpeckers on every hike this summer.

This Pileated Woodpecker is right in the center of this photo.

But we managed to change our angle and get a few more.

He's so beautiful!

And we've seen a few Red Headed Woodpeckers. Not many. Just a few so far.

 Red headed Woodpecker

And I love seeing a young one (possibly a Red-bellied Woodpecker) that doesn't have much color at all.

The Flicker is a neat sighting too.

Do you see the red on the back of his head?

We started this post with a red berry. 

How about this beautiful red Cardinal flower to end it! We're getting out for more hikes lately! 

A few people asked if the Luna Moth I featured in a post HERE was still alive when we saw it. Yes, it was alive but struggling. It was flapping it's wings and flopping around on the ground, not flying away. I guess it was at the end of it's life. 

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

A Colorful Spring!

OK....here's your warning! Read the beginning and then skip to the end if you don't want to see something scary! This will be your only warning! lol If you don't skip to the bottom and you get scared, don't blame me! 

We see a lot of beautiful birds here in Florida!

We watched a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers building a nest awhile back.

One was pecking a deep hole into an old tree.  Look at the tail feathers on this one!!!

The other one pecked around an old stump nearby.

They didn't care that we walked by and took pics. They had a job to do!

But when you hike in the woods as often as we do, you are bound to see something scary. And we saw the scariest thing to date when we hiked this week. 

A Coral Snake.

They have the second strongest venom of any snake in the world (the black mamba has the most deadly venom).

And this wasn't a little baby snake...it was about 3 ft in length. 

It was rustling in the leaves along the side of the trail. My hubby was in the lead and saw it first and turned to caution me to stop. He walked back toward me since the snake was heading...in my direction...and stayed between me and the snake in case it tried to turn and cross in front of me. He had on long pants and boots. I got over to the other side of the trail as much as I could and it slithered past. I can still feel my heart quicken when I write this. It was scary! Does it mean I won't go back in the woods again. Of course not. I believe there are dangers in every part of our lives and this one did not threaten us. I liked what my hubby said when we were back home, safe and sound. He said he felt privileged to see something so rare in the wild and to have survived to tell the story. I've been scared a few times on our hikes but I still love the forest and know that it is worth any danger that it holds. 

And even though it is deadly, according to National Geographic no deaths from coral snake bites have been reported in the U.S. since an antivenom was released in 1967.

So that's the scary hiking story I warned you about! 

Let's finish with another pretty bird with a colorful head!

Pileated Woodpecker

Most of our hiking trails are closed now. How are things going in your part of the world? Stay safe and healthy!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.