New visitor to the bird buffet
 

A Pileated Woodpecker!
Hardly ever see them here...we commonly have Downy, Red Bellied, and Red Headed.
I don't think this one was full grown because I looked and found this...
Length: 15.8-19.3 in
Weight: 8.8-12.3 oz
Wingspan: 26.0-29.5 in

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1682857764.jpg

We're fairly thick with 'em in my area.

What is fun is that mom's chimney has a metal capper... every few years some woodie figures out it makes the best signalling noise.... Great way to wake up on a weekend morning, woodie hammering the metal cap and having it echo thru the whole house...

They are fairly common here in SW Ohio. We live near a large wooded area now. When we lived 60 miles east of here in a more suburban environment we never saw them.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1682861868.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1682861954.jpg

The first Baltimore Oriole of the year showed up this morning. They'll hang around eating grape jelly for a couple of weeks before heading up into the tree canopy. We won't see them until next spring then.

I love 'em. We used to get them in the 'burbs on the SE side of Houston. I've seen them a couple of times here too. Really big critters! When we went to the Amazon river in Brazil, we saw several similar relatives.

Awesome birds, hopefully for you, they don’t get the taste for turtle or Stax.

I saw one from a distance on my first bike ride of the season, Thursday. We have them around here, but not many, I’ve only spotted a few in the last couple of years, so still a thrill when I get to see one.

Their call is something straight out of a rainforest and if you get "buzzed" by one, it's easy to think a pterodactyl has just moved into your 'hood.

I didn't know they made this type of call...maybe there are more around here than I thought. (at the 41 second mark)

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[QUOTE=rwest;11986876]Awesome birds, hopefully for you, they don’t get the taste for turtle or Stax.



They will have to go underwater to get to the turtles for a while. It's 40F here today and the next 4 days is forecast for snow/rain each day.:eek:

That call is so familiar out here. I probably hear it once an hour, usually from a bird in flight.

Around here, we usually see the big pileated ones in pairs. The smaller woodpeckers seem to make more noise pecking than the large ones.

A few years back, I heard one in my neighbors old dying maple tree. It was far enough away to use the binoc's.

It must have been full of bugs because the chips were flying like crazy. Fun watching them.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1682872358.JPG
The resident juvenile hawk that was keeping an eye on things down at my son's place yesterday. The crows did not like him being around.

We had one at the farm a few years back. It took us a long while to figure out who was setting off a fire alarm. I guess it decided the pipe on the side of the barn had bugs in it.