With summer winding down and fall approaching, you may start to hear the sound of a friendly neighbor or two, knocking on your door (or drainpipe, or siding, or trees). Woodpeckers!

Each fall, woodpeckers excavate roosting holes in preparation for the coming winter, utilizing a behavior called “drilling.” When woodpeckers drill, they actually chip out wood and create cavities as potential sites for nesting or roosting.

A similar behavior, but for a different purpose, is “drumming,” which a woodpecker does to attract a mate or mark its territory by alerting the competition. Drumming occurs most commonly in spring.

Learn more about the species of woodpeckers found in Massachusetts, how they manage to peck without brain injury, and what to do if a woodpecker is drilling on your house.

Got a great picture of a woodpecker at work? Submit it to our annual Picture This: Your Great Outdoors Photo Contest by September 30!

Red-Headed Woodpecker © Ken Lee, Photo Contest 2012

Pileated Woodpecker © Daniel Tracey, Photo Contest 2014

Red-bellied Woodpecker © Bette Robo, Photo Contest 2013

Northern Flicker © Jim Walker, Photo Contest 2011

Downy Woodpecker © Jacob Mosser, Photo Contest 2013

If you’ve ever enjoyed a day at the beach, no doubt you have been entertained by the antics of a few fleet-footed shorebirds as they scurry about in the waves, looking for morsels of food buried in the sand. As summer begins to wane, migratory shorebirds begin their long, annual journey south for the winter, and mid-August is the perfect time to catch the height of the annual shorebird migration at beaches and tidal wetlands along the Massachusetts coast.

Look for sandpipers, plovers, and sanderlings, among others, at many of our wildlife sanctuaries, including Joppa Flats in Newburyport, Long Pasture in Barnstable, and Felix Neck in Edgartown. Check our program catalog to find an upcoming shorebird migration program at these any many other locations.

Here are five terrific photos of common shorebirds you can look out for on their long trek south. And don’t forget to submit your own photos to our annual photo contest by September 30!

Piping Plovers © David Peller, Photo Contest 2014

Semipalmated Sandpiper © Scott Martin, Photo Contest 2015

Sanderlings © Denise Hackert Stoner, Photo Contest 2015

Greater Yellowlegs © Susumu Kishihara, Photo Contest 2015

Dunlins © Paul McCarthy, Photo Contest 2015