February12_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

If you approach from Highway 97 and the Glenrosa overpass, come downhill off the overpass, pass the huge orchard on your right, go by the stairway leading to Glen Canyon park on your left, and continue downhill toward the lake. When you see a new residential development on your left, it’s time to keep a close eye out to the right for the stately trees and white cottage in Gellatly Heritage Park. Turn right into the parking lot.

Photos - Moving on from Glen Canyon in Glenrosa District of Westbank, I decided to make a stop at the Gellatly Regional Park located at 41205 Gellatly Road. Truth is, I saw a pair of woodpeckers cavorting on the trees beside the road and I wanted to stop to investigate.

The cavorting pair of woodpeckers are Picoides Villosus (Hairy Woodpecker) The male at right frame differs from the female (frames left and center) mainly in head coloration. The male has a small patch of red on the back of its head, the female does not.

This is a medium sized woodpecker equipped with a large bill for pounding through the surface bark of live or decaying trees to look for wood bugs and ants below the surface. This is a female Hairy woodpecker and doesn't have the red color patch on the crest of its hood as the male of the species does. Both male and females have a smoky white back ( the belly is also smoky white) and a strip of white down the spine between its shoulders, ending in a thin point at the root of the tail feathers. It has black wings with small white spots - the amount of white spots on the wings vary regionally (in the humid, warmer Pacific Northwest, the white patch and belly is more drab or looks like a soiled tinge. The range of the Hairy woodpecker starts in Alaska, through Canada and down to Panama from the coast to the eastern side of the coastal mountains and to the east to the great plains. They like forests, woodlands, river groves and shade trees.

Photos - A stood to watch for awhile, after creeping up a bit closer to the trees that seemed favorite feeding grounds. The male woodpecker you see here in the center row started doing crazy exercises. I don't know if it was because it needed a stretch, or that perhaps it was entertaining the bugs before clearing them out from the inner recesses of the tree bark.

Photos - Frames left and right: A Log Barn built by D.E. Gellatly and sons in 1903 and relocated to this site in September 1999.

Center frame: Log Cabin originally built by Billy Powers in 1888, abandoned in 1890, then home of David Erskine Gellatly and Family 1900 to 1908. The cabin was relocated to this site in 1999. Powers Creek which flows through Glen Canyon and the Gellatly area nearby was named after Billy Powers.

Click here for more photos of Glenrosa/Westbank for this day.