(Click on photo to enlarge)
Our largest woodpecker is this Pileated Woodpecker or commonly also called the King Woodpecker, who has a striking black and white body with a bright red crown. We watched as he wound his way up the tree pecking for bugs in the tree by the river.
His powerful beak drills into the tree, taping out various rhythms which echo around the forest. He is a large bird, much bigger than the more common flickers, and his flight style is the typical flying-coasting wave style common to woodpeckers and very different from most birds.
Inriri (woodpecker) shows up in many Indigenous Stories and is also in Taino Myths, coming with the energy, spirit and ability to transform one thing into another. Inriri pecks deep into the tree, piercing through different layers to find what is hidden beneath them. Simultaneously he is also marking his territory, as he is a territorial bird.
Inriri is not seen in flocks unlike other birds, and has an energy of independence and self-sufficiency. Inriri holds the ability for us to be able to not go down the "easiest or typical" path but to approach problems or situations from a creative or unusual perspective. Inriri also holds the energy of being able to dig below the surface to uncover what is really underneath, be it something nourishing or something rotten.
Iniri is a very important Ceremonial bird and we always pay attention when we see him or her, especially this particular species. Called the Earth's drummer, his drumming resembles in particular Taino Mayowakan which is a totally wooden drum (no skin).
The woodpecker has just started his drumming out here, I heard him for the first time a few days ago, along with the robins starting up in the morning last week and the mourning doves just now returning it signals the beginning of Spring to me! Besides the usual spots, they like to go to the top of telephone pole across the street and drum on a metal part on it and it sure echoes through the whole neighborhood. I think they like it because it's so LOUD. Marking territory, indeed!!
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