Living with Woodpeckers: Folklore, History, and Science— Tues. 5/27/25
Join professional naturalist, woodpecker expert, and author Steve Shunk for an entertaining evening of woodpecker tales and taboos at the Campbell Center in Eugene. Prepare to leave with a newfound appreciation for these ubiquitous woodland carpenters. Lane County Audubon Society is pleased he has once again agreed to share his knowledge, expertise, and experiences with our members.
According to the Paradise Birding website, “Steve’s presentations are the perfect combination of science and entertainment.”– Bartshe Miller, coordinator of the Mono Lake Bird Chautauqua.
For many thousands of years, woodpeckers have pervaded the lives of humans. From Old World myths to modern urban legends, our fascination with woodpeckers has frightened, entertained, and inspired. Some ancient cultures depicted woodpeckers as the devil, and others described their power to summon rain. Woodpecker drumming has even been touted as one of the inspirations for our own instrumental drums. In the early 20th century, woodpeckers were alternately credited with both positive and negative impacts on North America’s forests.
Today, we study woodpecker anatomy to learn how to build safer football and motorcycle helmets, while some humans despise woodpeckers for waking them up every morning with their incessant drumming or for drilling into their expensive homes. Many birders swoon when they see woodpeckers feeding their young in a nest cavity.
Stephen Shunk wears several hats in his life as a compulsive traveler and general nature nut, including author, public speaker, field biologist, and tour guide. He has fed leeches (his own blood) in Malaysian Borneo and watched Spotless Starlings swarming around the Greek ruins of Sicily. He visited Okinawa to see the world’s most endangered woodpecker and loves exploring the Peruvian Andes among the cushion plants and condors. The more than 25 years Steve spent anchored in Central Oregon’s “Woodpecker Wonderland” inspired the publication of his Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America. Today, when he is not guiding for Arizona-based Naturalist Journeys, he can often be found communing with Happy Wrens in his backyard at the heart of Cabo Corrientes in western Jalisco, Mexico.
Join your friends at the Campbell Center, 155 High Street, Eugene, on Tuesday, May 27, at 7:00. The doors will open at 6:30 for some social time. This program will be available online via Zoom. The link for the presentation will be posted here about one week before the event; a recording of the program will be posted here within the following week.