I had posted these at the end of someone elses post, but thought they were too cool not to post on their own. This huge pileated woodpecker was on my tiny suet feeder last week, and he was there for a long time. I got several shots of him, and here are a few. The chickadees and nuthatches continued to feed at other feeders while the big guy was there. He showed up again today, but only for a few seconds. He's around quite a bit in the summer, as there are a lot of dying oaks around our area (they have Oak wilt). Really neat!!! [/img]
What a supurb specimen, Kase. I had no idea that they ventured into civilation. I had read that they and the Ivory-billed woodpecker kept to themselves deep in the virgin forests. Are these beautiful creatures still on the "getting extinct list"? What an exciting sight to see. I love watching birds it's is really exciting and interesting. Thank you very much for posting these piccies.
When we lived in the country and had the woods , I loved to hear him pecking on the dead trees in the summer. It echoed and was such a nice feeling to have him close. I remember when we first moved to the country I could not believe my eyes when I did see him. I thought what in the world and ran in to get my bird book...I could not believe his size..I told my husband a woodpecker the size of a chicken flew into the woods today...he looked at me kind of funny but understood when he saw him. Thank you for sharing...I could never get a shot of mine.
What a strikingly handsome fellow!! We have a Great Spotted Woodpecker that visits our garden often but he's nowhere near the size of your one Kasey. Well done on getting such clear, crisp shots of him.
Usually they're shy here, too...he must have been very hungry on this day to stick around for so long. The temps were -40F with the wind chill on this day, so he probably needed to put on a few ounces to stay warm.
Great pictures! I was fortunate enough to run into a family of those woodpeckers last fall. They were very nervous of me and I wasn't able to get a single good picture