Pileated Woodpecker (female).
This overcast morning, right at the end of my hike with Jack—after I’d already let him in the pickup, in fact—I heard the call of a Pileated Woodpecker. It grew nearer. And a female woodpecker approached through the trees and landed in a berry bush, where she plucked a few. Then she headed over to a nearby tree. I managed to sneak up for a video (see below).
After she’d drilled a pretty good-sized hole, I heard the drumming of what must’ve been her mate up the hill a ways. She heard it, too, shinnied up the big dead pine trunk (which I watched the male excavate a few Christmases ago), and at the very top let off a loud cry before flapping away.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9:45 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Crow*
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. Tufted Titmouse
4. White-breasted Nuthatch
5. American Robin
6. Hairy Woodpecker (v)
7. Pileated Woodpecker
8. Golden-crowned Kinglet (v)
9. American Goldfinch
10. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
Elsewhere
11. Herring Gull
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
*Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chckadee, dark-eyed junco, golden-crowned kinglet, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, pileated woodpecker, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch
