Hiking tykes learn about woodpeckers

Children looked into trees hoping to spot woodpeckers and other birds as they hiked at Edward L. Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods during Tuesday's Hikin' Tykes: Woodpeckers program.

"Today we have young preschoolers coming in to talk about woodpeckers. We just got back from a hike where we saw their homes and we heard their calls," said environmental educator Alex Moss.

Moss discussed the habitat and physical features of woodpeckers with 10 children, ages 2 to 5, and their parents and caregivers during the Lake County Forest Preserve District program.

The children learned the birds' hard beaks are used for breaking through wood to gather insects for food, to make holes in trees where they will live, and to peck on wood to communicate with other birds in the forest.

"He learned about the birds and the woodpeckers. They have them at his house," Debby Paulsen of Green Oaks said before helping her grandson, Sawyer, make a bird feeder to take home. "He was able to walk through the woods and look for some and we heard some but we didn't see any."

At the end of the program, children made bird feeders to take home using pine cones covered with shortening and oats to attract birds to their yards.