Pg33

I tried to get a good photo of a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) since I first saw one, but had

never been able to get close enough to take a decent shot. They are huge birds, nearly two feet long, so

you’d think I would have been able to fill up my viewfinder with one of them, but look at this group of

shots that I’d taken over more than four years since I moved here.

And then in September of 2009, I got

lucky. One finally landed on my feeder. He

didn’t eat anything...he was probably

curious as to what so many other birds

found inviting about that container. He

just hung there long enough for me to get

a couple hurried shots through the window.

Pileated Woodpeckers seem to like

carpenter ants and other insects that are

found in decaying wood, because I usually

see them pecking in deadwood on the

ground. In fact, I have seen them totally

destroy decaying tree stumps in getting at

the insects in residence.

Look at the size of this bird; his leg alone

is as big as a whole Downy Woodpecker!

This woodpecker is a male. You can tell by

the fact that his red crest covers his

entire crown from his bill to the back of

his head, as well as the red “mustache.”

Then I lucked out again two years later and got photos of a

female that came to the feeder. As you can see, she has no

“mustache,” and her red crest starts in the middle of her crown.

Incidentally, does he remind

you of somebody??

12 Mar 2012

25 May 2012

12 Mar 2012

2012 turned out to be a banner year, when I had

Pileated Woodpeckers coming to my feeders on a

regular basis. I was lucky again with the photo on

the left, as it was selected by the Cornell

Ornithology Lab as one of the photos included in

both their 2012-13 FeederWatch Project calendar,

and also as the full-sized cover of their Winter

Bird Highlights newsletter...pretty nifty!

This female came to this

particular feeder virtually

every day for several

weeks. It’s odd how one’s

priorities change: when I

couldn’t get close to these

birds, I would ache for

just one chance at a

decent shot; then after

they visit regularly, and

I’ve been able to get good

photos, I begin to get

miffed at how quickly they

consume my feed – the

pigs – you can’t believe

how fast they can go

through an entire suet

cake!