I just read Charles Thompson’s essay “Maine Observer: When woodpecker tweets birth of spring” (May 11). I cannot remember a time when I have been so annoyed by anything written in the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for many years!

He wrote, “When we built our house, I was determined to place our home in the middle of the forest and leave as many trees as I possibly could” – yet he was upset when a family of woodpeckers nested in a tree nearby?

How ignorant! What was he expecting? Quiet solitude? If it is quiet solitude that he wants, I suggest he cut all of the trees around his home for at least five miles each way and replace it with beach sand.

Or, if he does not like the desert, then he can always move onto a houseboat and go about 20 miles out to sea. It should be pretty quiet that far out except the occasional sounds of migrating birds overhead – but don’t worry, Mr. Thompson, the noise will only last a moment. Ear plugs could be of assistance in this case.

According to the National Audubon Society, bird declines are due to “loss of habitat, especially grasslands, forests and wetlands to urban sprawl, energy development, and industrialized agriculture” – and now, apparently, chainsaws.

The Telegram should also take the blame for printing such a ridiculous essay and allowing it to annoy other nature lovers and bird enthusiasts statewide.

Humane-ity starts here.

Carole G. Jean

Portland