I had such a treat yesterday morning. I was folding laundry in front of the glass doors to our deck when I heard what I thought was a woodpecker call, looked up and saw a large blackish bird fly by. I immediately jumped up to try to find it, but it was gone. I was disappointed but not surprised. We live directly in front of the woods, don't even really have a backyard, so I hear woodpeckers all the time, but I hardly ever see them. Then to my delight three large woodpeckers flew to a tree directly in front of us, but too far away to see much detail. My son and I both grabbed our binoculars (which we just got for Christmas!), and I was even more thrilled to see that they were pileated woodpeckers. They were so fun to watch and even moved to a closer tree right behind the deck-perfect viewing for my family! I have seen downies and red-bellies, but these were my first pileated since I started paying attention to birds. I am still excited about it, so I just wanted to share the news with others who would understand. :)

PS- My son (5 yrs.) wants to tell everyone that his binoculars have a compass! :)