Woody Woodpecker

[stevej37]

New patron to the bird feeders...a Pileated Woodpecker!
Always have a pair of Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, but it's rare here to get the Pileated.
They are big birds.

[HardDrive]

They are rare. I've hunted for 40+ years in Michigan, seen them maybe 4 times in the woods.

[stevej37]

When I first saw him today, he was on the suet block. When I tried to take a pic, he wouldn't land on the side towards me. Very skittish.

[Bill Douglas]

A very stylish lil' fella.

I've had a few of these birds around recently. A Tui.

They get into some flowers that naturally contain alcohol, LOL and get very vocal. They crash around in the trees completely ignoring the cats. The cats are a bit concerned about this thinking "They must be tough if they are not afraid of a great big vicious cat like me."

[Bill Douglas]

A very stylish lil' fella.

I've had a few of these birds around recently. A Tui.

They get into some flowers that naturally contain alcohol, LOL and get very vocal. They crash around in the trees completely ignoring the cats. The cats are a bit concerned about this thinking "They must be tough if they are not afraid of a great big vicious cat like me."

[rwest]

Love those peckers; don’t see many of them around here, lots of smaller woodpeckers here though.

They fly in a very interesting fashion; kind of a swooping action. Definitely have a memorable voice.

[stevej37]

I like the coloring of that Tui.

A couple years ago, I heard the rat-a tat-tat on an early summer morning....It was loud.
I had a dying hard maple about 75 yards away and a pileated pecker was drilling the wood looking for bugs. They can really make the chips fly.

[LWJ]

I get a Pileated Pecked in my yard every now and then. They are HUGE. My current home is in a pretty woody area and a push a whole bunch of leaves down into my sideyard where bugs/grubs/mice and other stuff dine with gusto. The woodpeckers love this sort of fast food.

They are a big deal here as well. Not very common.

[stevej37]

^^^ The only large birds I normally get in my yard are a few crows that dine on black walnuts that have fallen.
The Pileated Woodpeckers are about the same size as the crows.

[Flatbutt1]

I get one occasionally during spring and summer although I think it may be a pair of them.

[porsche tech]

The large piliated woodpeckers are fairly common around here…usually seen in pairs. I love all the waterfowl we have around here too…Ospreys, Herons, Egrets, Anhingas, Wood Storks, Cormorants and lots of Hawks. A lot of fun to observe. And Eagles…

[masraum]

Pileated woodpeckers are very cool and as has been mentioned, really big. They kind of look like they could be from prehistoric times, nearly dinosaurs. They make a hell of a racket too, especially when they start pecking on something to get attention.

[Hawkeye's-911T]

The females of the local species hammer the snot out of the fly ash screen (rain-hat) on our fireplace chimney during the spring. It makes for one helluva racket! It is rare to see the males - for some reason.

Cheers
JB

[porsche tech]

Wood Storks fishing…



Pelican was swimming around our boat about 20 miles out in the ocean and just hopped up on the back. Sat there for about 45 minutes and we headed in. He rode there for about 10 minutes then took off and flew behind us from one side to the other for at least a mile. I took a video of him following us. Love observing all these critters!

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by rwest

Love those peckers; don’t see many of them around here, lots of smaller woodpeckers here though.

They fly in a very interesting fashion; kind of a swooping action. Definitely have a memorable voice.

They sound impressive when coming in hot just overhead too. The first time it happened, I thought it was a flip'n fledgling pterodactyl.

[stevej37]

^^^ And when they are drilling on a tree...it's like a hammer-drill.

[rfuerst911sc]

We get them on our suet feeders once in a while . They hammer the feeders hard but don't stay long due to being skittish . They are impressive to watch .

[NYNick]

Not rare in the Northeast. We get them all the time.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

They are rare. I've hunted for 40+ years in Michigan, seen them maybe 4 times in the woods.

Very little meat on them, not worth the effort.

[1990C4S]

From Audubon.org

Here’s an interesting pattern: crested birds, in general, are not long-distance migrants. In the plover family, for example, the round-headed American Golden-Plover migrates from the high Arctic to the southern tip of South America, but the crested species of lapwings move much shorter distances. Some woodpeckers (like the Pileated) are crested, but the few woodpeckers that migrate notable distances (like Yellow-bellied Sapsucker) are not. In the cardinal family, the round-headed Scarlet Tanager flies to South America for the winter, while the crested Northern Cardinal is sedentary. Why the difference? As far as I can tell, it’s just coincidence. But it’s fun to think about.