Six Woodpeckers by February
I’ve had a little more time for local birding this year. I actually managed to get my sixth (and final expected) woodpecker for Brooklyn on February 8, a Red-headed Woodpecker that has set up housekeeping in Greenwood Cemetery:
This is months earlier than I’ve traditionally done it, but thanks to global heating and the fossil fuel industry, Northern Flickers and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are now spending the winter here. Red-bellied Woodpecker is another traditionally southern species, especially in the winter, that moved northward with rising temperatures decades ago. Downy and Hairy are the only two that should be around right now. I even heard a repeated double tap in Prospect Park today and looked around because, well, you never know.
It’s not just woodpeckers either. I had a Pine Warbler in January, which is utterly ridiculous. It’s an early migrant but never over-winters. There are other species around that shouldn’t be here for another month at least including Baltimore Oriole and Chipping Sparrow.
