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Pileated Woodpecker

16 years ago

He's back - my first sighting of the woodpecker since last fall!

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Comments (8)

rachel_frome_ky
16 years ago
Oooooh! Lucky you!
terrene
16 years ago
That's exciting! What do you think he's doing? Do they nest in your area?

I had a pair of Pileateds come through the yard the other day - checking out lots of stumps, snags, and trees. It seemed like they were checking out nest sites.
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Pileated woodpecker behavior
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Hitching down a tree trunk is common for woodpeckers. They usually do that to move short distances downward, especially while foraging. However, if the distance is great, say the bird wants to move from the top of the tree to the base of the trunk, it will usually fly down. However, in flight, woodpeckers are more vulnerable to predators, by remaining on the tree trunk and hitching down, they can easily duck around the other side of the tree to avoid a predator. BN
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It's a great photo! I actually like the branch. Thanks for sharing this.
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Thanks konrad, I do have Photo Bucket, but haven't been to their site for awhile. Catherinet, when I first saw him land on the tree stump, I ran for my camera thinking for sure he would be gone by the time I got out the door to take pics, but he was still there. I know he had to see me taking pictures. He was only 15-18 feet from where I was standing on my front porch....just on the other side of our driveway. I got 42 pictures.....2 were videos of him pecking away at that tree stump. I was so happy that I saw him that close because I had seen him flying a few times and he always landed in a tree across the street. Then he would go on the backside of the tree where I couldn't see him.
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Comments (9)
Your picture is beautiful, as usual Bev! Konrad........you're so right about nature flourishing, if we just leave it alone.......even all the dying things. There are so many creatures that depend on things that so many people view as "ugly" and are far too eager to take them out.
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beegood_gw
16 years ago
They were probably looking for food under the bark. They make holes in growing tree for their nests.
gymell
16 years ago
Nice, they are always exciting to see. That's a female.
whatsthepoint
Original Author
16 years ago
There's a stump in that yard that they eat from (just to the right of the picture). We had a couple last year and we think this one might be the "baby" from last year.

They live in the area somewhere as we see them every couple of days or so.
sowngrow (8a) G
16 years ago
Cool-I'd faint if I looked out my window and saw that! How exciting!
lcmoore99
16 years ago
How can you tell it's a female?

Linda...
NW GA
whatsthepoint
Original Author
16 years ago
Actually I didn't even think about what sex it was (just said He). Here's a link that discusses the male vs. female differences. From what I read it's a female because she lacks the red on the sides of the face.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pileated Identification

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