Redheaded Woodpecker update and Woodpecker Biology

The Riverside Park Redheaded Woodpecker

photo by Barrie Raik

Update: This morning around 9 am the woodpecker looked more bedraggled than in Barrie's photo above. It was mildly raining. He was caching something fairly high up [about 12 ft.] in his usual tree [Elm?] just off Riverside Drive and 92nd Street, between park wall and the Drive. Very easy to find. Also there, Sandra Maury, one of the Early Birders.

More on Woodpecker biology:

A note from regular correspondent Nan Holmes referring to an article I posted a few days ago about how woodpeckers' brains are adapted to withstand intensive drilling

Dear Marie,

Never have I gone to a doctor but that I get conflicting opinions. And so it is here. My wonderful niece Kelly is in her final year at U of Georgia Veterinary School, and is currently finishing a round on ophthalmology. I sent her the woodpecker info and she showed it to her attending physicians. Below is his (her?) brief comment on intraretinal hemorrhages.

Regards, Nan Holmes


The niece replied:

Very interesting stuff. I showed it to my attending doctor on ophtho, and she did mention that birds do not have retinal vessels, so the intraretinal hemorrhages wouldn't be possible. Any hemorrhage would probably be subretinal (below the retina).

Comment from Marie:

Someone should write a note to the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Unless, of course, Kelly's attending physician is wrong. It happens. Any ornithophthalmologists out there?