When we were camping in the forest above Vilaflor last weekend, there was almost a complete absence of birds. I’ve noticed this in the past when walking in the forest around La Caldera; there’s much less bird activity than I’d find in one morning in my garden. So it was a pleasant surprise on the Sunday morning to wake up and find the pine trees around us absolutely teeming with great spotted woodpeckers. There must have been twenty of them. I’ve heard woodpeckers in the past, but until now, I’d never actually seen one in the wild. These ones were behaving exactly like you’d imagine woodpeckers would behave; perched on the sides of trees, tap, tap, tapping away at the trunk, their skull caps shining scarlet in the morning sun.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
It was simply another wonderful moment in a weekend that had already been jam packed with memorable moments.
