Monday, May 14, 2012

Pileated Woodpecker

While having a lovely family dinner with the Selin's in New York we were treated to a sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker.  Not only did we see this bird but it spent the next 20 minutes or so doing it's thing.  We all enjoyed watching the bird make vicious strikes on a fallen log.  We even found a pair of binoculars that we took turns using.  This picture is one I got from Wikipedia so you could see it clearly. 
This picture is one I took. 

A few facts about the Pileated Woodpecker:
It is the largest woodpecker in the United States, excepting the possibly extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker.  It is 16-19 inches long and weighs between 8 and 12 ounces.

Here is a video of the Pileated Woodpecker in action.

The day we left for Phoenix Doug and I decided to venture out into the tick laden woods to see the results of the Pileated Woodpecker's labors a few days previous.  Here are our findings. 


FYI - We also found a few ticks (actually they found us) - but were able to brush them off before the little buggers could find a warm, dark, tasty place to burrow into our skin.

1 comment:

Shirl and Bill said...

That bird is so pretty! And it can sure do a job on the log!