Meal at both ends - Checkered woodpecker
02-07-11 © Roberto Ares
This checkered woodpecker pecked at the tree trunk very diligently quickly deepening the hole. We did not understand what it was doing till we discovered the true target. Some centimeters on the right side above the hole there is another old aberture with insect larvae at the bottom of a gallery. As the woodpecker could not catch them from this entrance, it drilled this other entrance till the base of the gallery. Drumming certainly alerted the larvae of the danger and they moved towards the principal exit. They found themselves pecked by the woodpecker and withdrew. At either entrance the result was the same - a hungry woodpecker waiting for them. Finally the woodpecker captured them and ate them.