We refer to them as "woodpecker trees". It is a real privilege for us to support the local ecosystems on our small farm. This is a large reason why we have not cleared or developed the forested part of our land.

Kinda punky looking for a fire... so, yeah, let the critters have it.

It is particularly hard when you can only spot them at a distance and even with a fairly good zoom camera they tend to look very alike.

They can be a real menace up our way also. There are frequent articles in the local papers where the impact on farmer's fields is bemoaned.

Hawks are so variable they drive me nuts, but red tails are usually readily identifiable.

Purveyor of a million goose grenades on the bike path along rivers and ponds around here. Scourge of bike trails!

How lucky you were to hear him at the start of his career.

Brian Bowers! There’s a name I haven’t heard in ages. My first wife and I heard him perform in Seattle in 1972, when he was just making the step up from getting by as a busker.

Great!

Totally in agreement! Barges off the island to elsewhere are not the solution! But, reading of others journeys in India and Pakistan where it “just is” just about “everywhere” is worse.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was only a plan for dealing with the trash after it reached the dump.

Dump runs in Hawaii are very similar to yours. My sister in law takes her Hilo trash to the transfer station once a week. Island life is not always so “idilc” ;)

The poop roost 😬

Nor have I, but apparently Edgar did... :-) Decades since I read it.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

Really? That’s the purpose of those spikes? Seems pretty obvious now but it never occurred to me.