Hispaniolan Woodpecker (Melanerpes striatus) Haiti Specht

During our stay at the Gran Bahia Principe Resort, El Portillo in Las Terrenas, D.R. I had the great pleasure watching and photographing several woodpeckers perching on coconut trees in front of our hotel room.
Please enjoy my pictures...
The Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Melanerpes striatus, is a medium sized woodpecker endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

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Während unseres Urlaubes, im Gran Bahia Principe Resort, El Portillo in Las Terrenas, D.R. hatte ich viel Spaß, verschiedene Haiti Spechte 

zu beobachten und  zu fotografieren. 

Sie  kletterten am Stamm, der Kokosnussbäume rauf und runter und das genau vor unserem Hotelzimmer.

Der Haitispecht (Melanerpes striatus) ist eine Vogelart aus der Familie der Spechte (Picidae). Er ist ein Endemit der Karibikinsel Hispaniola und der südlich davon gelegenen, unbewohnten Isla Beata.

Their back is covered in yellow and black stripes. Males have a dark red stripe from their forehead to their neck while females the red stripe extends  from the nape to the neck only. Their tail base is brilliantly red while the tail itself is black. The rump is olive-grey.
Unlike most woodpeckers the Hispaniolan Woodpecker is a social species that takes advantage of having a large number of individual adult birds in the colony to protect a nesting bank or tree.

Their habitat, which is restricted to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, extends from the coasts, over the deserts to the mountains of the island.

Haitispechte brüten das ganze Jahr über, Hauptbrutzeit sind jedoch die Monate Februar bis Juli. Sie brüten einzeln oder in Kolonien mit 3 bis 26 besetzten Höhlen in ein bis drei zusammenstehenden Bäumen. Dabei nisten die dominanten Paare in den höchsten Höhlen. Die Höhlen werden von beiden Geschlechtern, vor allem aber vom Männchen in 2 bis 11 m Höhe vor allem in toten und lebenden Palmen, säulenförmigen Kakteen und Telegrafenmasten gebaut. Die Nisthöhle hat einen Durchmesser von 7 bis 9 cm. Das Gelege umfasst 4 bis 6 Eier, Brut- und Nestlingsdauer sind nicht dokumentiert. Die Jungvögel werden von beiden Geschlechtern gefüttert, durchschnittlich alle 6 bis 8 Minuten 

 
Ich hoffe, daß Euch meine Fotos gefallen?

References: Wikipedia.org

Pictures by ©guild-rez 2012

Location: El Portillo, Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

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Remembering Dr. King

I hope you all had a great weekend -- DC is all blue sky today! -- and that you take some time to remember the reason why some of us have today off. I think Dr. King would be proud of the way we have banded together to support Haiti and the efforts we have made to promote equality for all, regardless of race, gender, country of origin, sexuality and ability or disability.

However, I think we all know we have a long way to go. There's no question in my mind that Haiti was ignored by all of us for far too long -- even before the earthquake struck many Haitians were living on less than $2 a day; some had to resort to mixing mud with salt and shortening to feed their families.

Both inside the third world and out, people are faced with incredible adversity every day -- gay people in Uganda are being threatened by legislation that would give them the death penalty, many women have zero freedom to choose to live their lives as they please, and are frequently trafficked against their will. There is also great work that needs to be done here in the U.S., where it might be nice if we all stopped acting like women have an "expiration date," reformed our education system to make sure no teen feels like dropping out is their best option, empowered and educated people to make good decisions about their health -- and, frankly, to provide health care when they have no other option.

So I'm incredibly proud of everyone who donated a bit of money in the past week, but I just wanted to take a few moments to remind us all (myself included) that we need to work to address the root causes of inequality constantly -- education reform, unequal rights under the law, political instability, etc. Whether you choose to do so through monetary donations, volunteering, political activism, shopping responsibly or just by living a life that exemplifies your principles, you will be making a difference, as cliche as that sounds.

Thank you for letting me turn this blog into my little soap box today -- there's no question that the world has a lot of very complex problems, with even more complex answers. So let's keep thinking about them...

To close out, there are about a million and one worthy causes to get involved with, but two that I strongly recommend checking out are Women for Women International and DC Central Kitchen. I'd love for you to share other great organizations in the comments.

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