Pileated Woodpecker (male).
I’d just begun walking up the Beech Hill trail with Jack this afternoon—that first stretch right along Beech Hill Road—when I heard a bright rapping above us. I knew it had to be a woodpecker (I’d heard a downy call not long before) and looked up to see a male Pileated Woodpecker excavating a large hole in a birch tree. Right there. So close it was difficult to get a good photo. But I did manage a couple—as well as a little video.
There was frost this morning. And a roofing crew hard at work early on a house across the street. Squirrels and chipmunks and backyard birds. Little wind. A lovely sky.
And the day contained a woodpecker surprise.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Red-tailed Hawk
2. Black-capped Chickadee*
3. Downy Woodpecker* (v)
4. American Goldfinch*
5. Pileated Woodpecker
6. Blue Jay** (v)
Elsewhere
7. White-breasted Nuthatch
8. American Crow
9. Herring Gull
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, downy woodpecker, herring gull, pileated woodpecker, red-tailed hawk, white-breasted nuthatch
