Woodpecker Spotted! | Letter by Sanvi,12, Kolkata
What a joy it is in receiving a letter! 12 year-old Sanvi from Kolkata writes a lovely letter to her cousin about a woodpecker she saw!
Dearest Brother,
How are you and everyone in Jaipur? You won’t believe what I saw during my visit to Bhandardara in Maharashtra. I’ll tell you all about it.
It was 3 am. My parents, uncle and I had been trekking for over three hours continuously, in the forest near our hotel. We sat down to rest on the lush grass. Afterwards, we started building up our tents as, it was the perfect spot. I was just roaming around, listening to the sound of leaves rustling and the windhowling. A few minutes later, I heard a sound ‘tick, tick, tick!’ it got louder and more hollow by the second.
I tried to follow it through the dense trees and undergrowth. Finally, I saw the tree from which the sound was coming , there was a large hole in the middle of the trunk and below it lay chipped pieces of wood and bark. I peeked into the hole and saw a bird with red feathers on its head and black and white feathers on its chest and wings. It had short stubby legs and sharp claws. It was a great black woodpecker!
Over here, they say that a woodpecker of this species is quite a great find! It never migrates and it’s diet includes beetles, grubs and carpenter ants. At the time, the woodpecker was pecking through the bark of the tree to make its nest. I kept repeating in my head ‘Oh it’s so cute and fuzzy looking I wish I could just touch it!’
Suddenly, I remembered that I could take a picture of the bird, but as I fumbled in my knapsack, the woodpecker flew up and out of the forest abundantly.
When I came back to my tent, I was a bit disappointed that I could not take a picture of the beautiful bird, but on the positive note, I still saw it! I hope you send me a reply soon.
Yours lovingly,
Sanvi.
