Why do they do this?

Spring has arrived and this season is why I love living here in the valley. The weather is absolutely gorgeous! 70's -80's, sunny with a slight breeze......beautiful! We're dragging out the shorts, leaving windows open, taking bike rides and basically living outside. And spring also brings out all the new life; from plants and flowers to baby animals. Well, I always thought that animals have natural instincts about their lives. Like where they should live, what they should eat, what things to stay away from, etc. But apparently this isn't the case with a particular bird in our neighborhood.

When I get up in the morning, one of the first things I do is open the windows. It feels so good outside and when it does get slightly warm in the afternoon, we close the windows to keep it cool in the house. Keepin' it cool.....it's a big job down here right now. But it's loud out there because we've had mass birds lately....from the new baby birds chirping away to the mating-happy adult birds who like to flirt and make lots of noise! Hey, it's the circle of life, folks. Well one of those birds either doesn't know where to look for food or just likes to annoy the entire neighborhood with his antics.

In our cul-de-sac there is a light pole right at the end, just past our house. It's a popular meeting place for birds....they sit there and chirp, fly back and forth, build nests, etc. One morning as I was opening windows, I heard a funny sound. Not like the usual chirping and yapping of the birds. But this steady, sharp tapping. It almost sounded like a tool someone was using. I went outside and looked around, followed the tapping to the light pole and tried to see what was up. I finally saw this bird (pictured up above)........it was a woodpecker and he was pecking the METAL light pole for his food!! Hello? Doesn't he know he won't find any bugs living in a metal pole? Doesn't he know to fly to an actual TREE to find food? But no, he kept on going! For a long time! I called the kids out, told them what he was doing and we all sat there and laughed. Since this time, I've found him pecking at the electrical boxes on the houses, the metal fencing by the washes, the stucco on our house........basically EVERYWHERE except for the trees! Poor thing, he's probably starving, trying to peck for food and can't figure out why it's not there. I'd gladly go out there and show him where to look if I could. Who knows.....maybe the trees down here don't have the bugs he wants. Or maybe he's just a picky eater (like some of my kids) and will only eat a certain kind of bug. Well, when that's all that is offered by nature, he better buck up and start eating or he will starve.

Well, whatever reason the pecking on metal surfaces is getting really annoying! And it's not just on our light pole.....I hear it farther away sometimes. So I know he tries out more poles than just ours. I guess I should get used to this as being another sound of spring. But PLEASE, Mr. Woodpecker, get the hint and leave us humans in peace!