Feeder birds/other birds.
1/16/2024-1/17/2024.
Woodpeckers.
Pileated Woodpecker Family Takes Form
This Spring I was eager for breeding season to start. I began daily walks through the park less than a mile from my house. On April 2 I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker visiting a tree cavity and moments later the female emerged and the birds traded places on the nest. I discovered the birds did this routine about the same time each day. Their nest was near the top of a snag about 10 feet off a busy trail of dog-walkers and runners and older adults taking their daily stroll. Many people, seeing me with a fancy camera (and standing just a few feet from the nest), would ask if I had seen the “big bird” they had recently seen on the trail. I would answer, yes I think they have a nest in this park. It didn’t seem to occur to anyone to look up! I watched with anticipation over the next weeks as the adults started bringing food and carrying fecal sacs out of the nest. On April 29 I caught a glimpse of the first nestling at the hole. A few days later three heads emerged! I was surprised when I heard the first one calling from the nest, sounding just like the adults. A week later the first bird had fledged, and the next day the second. I found the family foraging together within earshot of the nest, where the last nestling took two days longer to fledge. I was there at that moment, heard the bird calling, saw the adult fly over to an adjacent tree, and seconds later the little one was gone. The nest was empty. Over the last five weeks I had developed an enormous sense of attachment to this new family, and I couldn’t have been happier to witness their success.
Gulls,Pileated Woodpecker hole,maybe puffins or cormorants.
2022 Male Pileated Working on Nest Cavity
April 2022, this male Pileated Woodpecker has been hard at work constructing a nest cavity space for the nesting season. What a beautiful fella, this photo looked almost like a painting!
Male Pileated Woodpecker Working on Nest Cavity
This gorgeous fella has been working hard on this nest cavity over the past week or so, and we finally heard “tap tap tap” and caught him peeking out from the nest cavity while working hard on it. Enjoy a few clips we took of him peeking out, and also in another tree nearby.
Female pileated woodpecker working a hole!
Female pileated woodpecker working a hole!
Pileated Woodpecker at the Nest
Mid June, 2021 These chicks were about a week or so away from fledging. Both parents fed the chicks.
Male Pileated Woodpecker shakes the suet feeder!!!
I saw this crow-sized bird pecking at the suet cake in the feeder. There’s no mistaking the Pileated Woodpecker!
Male Pileated Woodpecker in the Fall Trees
After months of trying to take photographs of the Pileated Woodpeckers that frequent the woods, I was finally able to do better than that and catch one on video. A male Pileated was clinging to the side of a tree, curiously examining his surroundings before flying off to search for a meal.
Female Pileated Woodpecker
Female Pileated Woodpecker, taken through a spotting scope
Unique sighting for me
Pileated Woodpecker – Nesting 2016
Adult Pileated Woodpecker, nesting in a live sycamore tree at Hollis Renewal Center (KS) – audible nestlings/fledglings heard a few days later. This nesting pair has been at Hollis, year-round, for 3 years.
Pileated Woodpecker young
This nest became fairly well known as it was in a popular conservation area. I limited myself to short visits, and was fortunate enough to get one clear shot of the young.
Pileated Woodpecker on the Nest
Pileated Woodpecker sitting on its nest.