Some types of woodpecker, such as the Pileated Woodpecker (dryocopus pileatus), actually do dig further than just the surface of trees. They use their bill to drill deep into the tree, often old pine trees, in order to carve out a cavity in which to build their nest. You may also see them tapping at and removing the bark around the entrance in order to make sap flow across the surface. This is to make it harder for predators to cling on while attacking the nest.

Some types of woodpecker also use their bill to hammer on trees as part of their courtship rituals and all use it to dig for food, such as termites.

To summarise, woodpeckers are craftsmen themselves, they carve out homes for their families and select mates on the quality of their carpentry.

Pecking away at your typewriter or keyboard. Scratching little symbols into wood or wood pulp or maybe just electronically. Little tips and taps. Small little noises, heard from the next room. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The scratches take a form. The lines are drawn. Nothing is solid, though. Nothing has much to it. Just scratches, tiny holes. No depth.

You get by on the barest of bare writing, as the woodpecker needs only to scratch the surface to get what he needs.

Why not go deeper? Why not plunge into the center of the tree of knowledge and pull out something warm, covered in the moist, sticky sap of a thousand new ideas just seeing the sun?

Why not build up a stronger idea, a house for your dreams?

The woodpecker just makes noise. The carpenter and the writer are making noise with purpose.

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