Woodpeckers in the Garden

We see the woodpeckers from time to time and know that they have arrived by their characteristic knocking. But I have never seen a pair travelling together. Once again Wikipedia came to the rescue and I quote from their site The Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) is a very large woodpecker which is a resident breeding bird from Panama south to northern border regions of Argentina, and on Trinidad.
The habitat of this species is forests and more open woodland. Two white eggs are laid in a nest hole in a dead tree and incubated by both sexes.
The Crimson-crested Woodpecker is 36 cm long and weighs 250g. It resembles the Pileated Woodpecker of North America, but within its range the confusion species is the Lineated Woodpecker.
Adults are mainly black above, with a red crest and white lines down the sides of the black throat and shoulders, which meet in a V on the back. The underparts are white, heavily barred with black. They show white on the wings in flight.
Adult males have a red line from the bill to the throat and red on the front of the crown. In adult females, these plumage features are black.

The Strange things I saw in New York

This was not a fashion statement. It really was so cold that the dogs needed coats. I even saw one with custom made booties. Everyone in Manhattan walks their dogs. Meaning, I assume, that all of these dogs live in apartments or townhouses. The dedication that it takes to be a pet owner in a large city is admirable. While I have five dogs and two cats, the dogs entertain each other, chase a few lizards, lie around or when particularly bored, uproot my plants. Could I live with them in closer proximity to me? Hmmmmm. This is so not the scene that you think you are going to come across in uptown Manhattan. I haven't seen laundry soap like this in years. We don't even get it like this here. So of course I had to investigate what was in this haberdashery. It got better, believe it or not.
Lo and behold- Matouks gets around. Here it was in this little, West Indian/Chinese/multi-ethinic, everything you need to whip up an exotic recipe, store. And we Trinidadians know that you can't beat a Matouks Pepper Sauce
Okaaay then. Dried something fishy. Who would look at this and say.....yes!! That has to come home with me today. There's no accounting for culinary taste.

And it wasn't cheap!

Thanks World

Thanks everyone who has visited and made comments on the blog. Thanks blogger team.