Saturday, January 2, 2010

Pileated Woodpecker



The morning after Christmas was misty. I was downstairs with Jackson, and noticed some larger than usual activity in the front trees. It was a pileated woodpecker! I was thrilled to see this spectacular bird just 50 feet from my front window. She stuck around for about 1/2 and hour, and worked over this tree plus a few others. From the damage done to the trees, I think she must be visiting us frequently.
The only other time I've seen her, or her kin around was shortly after we moved in. It was another misty morning, and Jason woke me up about 5 am to look through the haze in the backyard. That bird didn't stay long, and in the dark and fog, we didn't get a very good look. I've had my eye on the tree ever since hoping for another glimpse, but the tree seems to have been taking over by redbellied woodpeckers.
Pileated woodpeckers have an extensive Northern range, but they prefer old growth trees. Our forest is maybe 50 years old and was logged 20 years ago, so the trees are young and small.

1 comment:

  1. Pretty darn cool!
    (I'm still trying to not covet your awesome 'boy' yard.)
    I love Jackson's robot room!

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