A Pileated Woodpecker...

RP · #1 05-08-2022, 03:14 AM

has fallen in love with my house. The setting of my cabin in the woods has provided cover for numerous pileated woodpeckers over the 12 years I've lived here. Their call floats through the air on a fairly regular basis. However, yesterday my home itself appeared to become the object of affection for a certain PW. Over the course of the entire afternoon, it pounded loudly on the siding, ogled the fairly lifelike woodcarving of a WP that my brother had given me and clung to the side of my house for hours craning its colorful neck to peer into another window. Very strange....

srick · #2 05-08-2022, 04:32 AM

They are amazing prehistoric monsters! We have a ton of woodpeckers in our neighborhood including a couple of pileateds. They have an amazing variety of hoots and calls.Plus, they really like our house too…. Every year we have to call our carpenter to replace more than a few shingles. Eh. Nature wins once again!

It’s pretty easy to see where Walter Lantz got the idea of ‘Woody Woodpecker from!’

94A27B55-5557-4404-8978-DCA6B09EE762.png

rmp · #3 05-08-2022, 06:02 AM

we have one in the area, he's elusive

I have a 500mm lens that would be just the thing but, he's no co-operating yet!

rule18 · #4 05-08-2022, 06:33 AM

We have two in the area that really like a mostly-dead tree in my neighbor's yard. We can see them clearly as they drill away.

Jim Owen · #5 05-08-2022, 06:40 AM

I spotted on in the magnolia tree on my NC yard last year. First time I’d ever seen one there. When I lived in Ch’ville, there was one on our block.

Methos1979 · #6 05-08-2022, 06:47 AM

We have several that fly around our backyard daily pecking away. It is my understanding that they only peck at wood they can sense (smell? hear?) insects inside of so you might want to check your home for an infestation. We had one pecking a hole in our wood shingle siding last year and sure enough, carpenter ants had infiltrated. Fortunately, I have the ability to take care of those little buggers! Now our resident red-topped knave(s) are back to pecking on infested trees.

renoslim · #7 05-08-2022, 08:41 AM

I have these in my yard on a regular basis. Sometimes when they are low on a tree and very "busy" I can walk up quite closely. Once we were at an outdoor wedding. A pileated was high up in the oaks above the seated guests. As the ceremony was in progress large chunks of\ wood began to rain on the crowd. These birds can really work a tree !

I love the way they fly, kind of a dive, climb, dive, swoop. Outside, I almost always hear them before I see them.

Love the bird. I have the call as my ringtone and always get interesting reactions out in public.

Lee

Dru Edwards · #8 05-08-2022, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srick

They are amazing prehistoric monsters! We have a ton of woodpeckers in our neighborhood including a couple of pileateds. They have an amazing variety of hoots and calls.Plus, they really like our house too…. Every year we have to call our carpenter to replace more than a few shingles. Eh. Nature wins once again!

It’s pretty easy to see where Walter Lantz got the idea of ‘Woody Woodpecker from!’

Attachment 74220

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the pic, it's from the Jurassic or Cretaceous period!

RP, that's a great pic. Did you take it?

J Patrick · #9 05-08-2022, 10:30 AM

We’ve had a mating pair hammering away on an old ironwood tree near the house all spring. Man do they make that wood ring. And I love their distinctive call. Great pic!! Thanks

jseth · #10 05-08-2022, 12:54 PM

We have several that cruise around the woods surrounding my house... for a long while, it seemed the favorite "pecking" spot was the power pole just 20' from my place... really gave off a loud sound when he was at it!

My landlord said that they use the louder spots to attract mates... I've noticed that, once there are a couple of them, they tend to the softer woods in the trees; I suspect they're looking for various insects on which to dine with those.

marty bradbury · #11 05-08-2022, 01:25 PM

Hang Suet up. They love it and left my house alone,

RP · #12 05-08-2022, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

RP, that's a great pic. Did you take it?

Unfortunately not...

Dogma · #13 05-08-2022, 03:31 PM

At this time of year a lot of that banging around is to attract a mate rather than to look for food. Here in the urban environment I don't see pileated WPs but a number of other species. They really like drumming on metal flue inserts and caps sticking up from house chimneys. Kind of a mid and treble heavy effect with lots of sustain!

srick · #14 05-08-2022, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogma

At this time of year a lot of that banging around is to attract a mate rather than to look for food.

A really cool app for your phone is ‘Merlin - Bird ID’ developed by Cornell’s Ornithology Dept. You can set your phone out and let the microphone do all the work of recognizing bird songs… even those you can’t hear (for us who listened to too much loud music in the 60s).

And I mention this because of multiple woodpecker species we have in our yard: flickers, downeys , red headeds and pileated have all been detected by the app.

dirkronk · #15 05-09-2022, 09:28 PM

Google tells me that Texas has 14 kinds of woodpeckers…including the pileated. But I’ve never seen one; apparently they like it over in the eastern part of the state. In my neck of the woods we get red headed and red breasted and assorted other varieties of woodpeckers and sapsuckers, but the pileated just doesn’t come around.

Me, I’m wondering where the cardinals and blue jays we’ve hosted in and around our yard for the past several years might be. They haven’t shown this year and I miss ‘em.

Dirk