This is Bird Note.

And here's a sound that might jar you awake one of these spring mornings.

Members of the Woodpecker percussion band often choose early morning hours to wail away on metal roofs or gutters.

Woodpeckers announce their territory and attract mates by pounding on hollow surfaces with their

bills.

The drum may be a stovepipe, trash can, even a car hood, or a hollow tree.

Okay. car hood or a hollow tree. That's the sound of a northern flicker, a brownish woodpecker, larger than a robin, smaller than a crow, with a black crescent bib and spotted belly and shafts of color

on its wings that flicker when it flies.

Drilling holes in tree trunks calls for some specialized tools, and the northern flicker has them.

Big claws, for example, with two toes pointing forward and two backward, and a stiff tail

to provide a third point of contact with the tree.

If it sounds like a steel band has moved in, try to be patient.

As spring moves along, the woodpecker will find a mate and lose interest in hammering on your house.

The birds will settle into a hollow tree to produce more woodpeckers.

Learn more on our website, birdnote.org. I'm Mary McCann.