Why Sapsucker Farm? As cool as it might be to be harvesting sapsuckers from the ground (imagine rows of corn) we named the farm after this bird simply because of the extensive sapsucker sign around the place. Sapsuckers generally bore shallow holes into trees, in remarkably linear fashion. The sap leaks out and the birds come back to the holes, to “suck the sap” thus the name. Actually, they are likely more interested in the insects that are attracted to the sap...but sapsucker sounds better than bugsucker so I guess we can go with it.
Our particular flavor of sapsucker is the Red-Breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber), one of 22 woodpecker species in North America and year around resident of the western part of Oregon
So what will this blog be about? That’s hard to say really. I plan to talk about the comings and goings on the place, plans and changes to the farm. I guess what I realized in my previous lives I spent much more time taking notes and recording observations; something I don’t do too much any longer. It just slipped away and wasn’t any longer much of a habit. Perhaps this blog will server to rekindle that aspect of life again, but perhaps not. I’ve often thought that life was about reinvention. I was an itinerate wildlife biologist for many years (I credit Pete Goldman with planting that seed); more recently I have been involved with supervising similar research/monitoring work. While not without some really good things about it, and some great people to work with, in the end management really isn’t my thing. I missed the daily outdoor work, the more basic observation, hearing the birds. Hopefully this farm will develop into something productive and sustaining, but at least it is outdoors and active.
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