This is a once every 13 years phenomenon. The noise is approaching deafening levels now; had to close up the house & turn on the air conditioner yesterday. Looks like we'll be removing carcasses with snow shovels later this week. I am getting better about being outside among them; I had one land on my upper back also and never even knew it was there.

I've done this in the past for your New York weather folks with accuracy. You will not have frost. Feel better? The ground is too warm. Also I don't see a single mid to major city in New York that will be lower than 40? It was 36 here other night. Not a single concern of frost even with the weather folks.

its funny but the birds NEVER eat any of my berries! we came back from the trip and what lester didn't get dried up, apparently they love the sunflowers much better! **grin** luckily they are covered by massive amounts of foilage!! **smile** ~Medo

Bout time I got off my lazy can and chimed in on this. I know EXACTLY how excited you are to see this handsome bird at last. I fist saw a pileated here about 8 or 9 years ago. Oddly enough, our truck had developed problems and my husband and I were pulled over out in the middle of nowhere with the hood up trying to get it running again. I was standing back out of the way and wishing I was elsewhere when I saw it...a pileated woodpecker flying over. I'd only seen them in books but it was like a kick in the gut and I started dancing around , pointing and screaming. Of course, when your husband is stretched out across a greasy hot engine block in his good jeans, trying to coax that P.O.S. into getting us back on the road, he isn't really in the mood to get all goofy about a woodpecker, especially, as he stated later when I was grumpy that he wouldn't look, since IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN A PILEATED. And then about three years later I saw the first one here in our own woods. I doubted it even then, and ran the whole 1/2 mile back to the house through the nettle and mosquitoes to get my binocs. I could never get close enough for a good look but I was sure of it....we had pileateds. And I got the same response from my husband: Don't be silly. I soon got used to hearing their loud ringing ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke, but he wasn't impressed. Then one morning we were eating breakfast and watching out the window as usual and he about choked on his frosted flakes. There was a big flash of black and white and there it was, about 20 yards out on the side of a large oak. There was total chaos for a moment as we tried to locate the d--mn binocs (spot a new bird and see if your field glasses don't vaporize)and then I was doubted no longer. I bet you just about gave everybody a coronary when they heard you start hollering. I am wondering how inthe world it held still long enough for you to go fetch the camera and get a good shot. Would never have happened for me. And by the way, I did like everybody else, searching high and low through that HUGE picture, dying to see what was in there. At first I was scratching my head because it appeared to me that there was a bobcat-shaped creature casually sitting among your chickens, which didn't really make sense. Then I saw it. Congrats congrats congrats!!!! I bet it is looking for grubs and carpenter ants among the trees damaged by the ice storm you got two winters back.