Pileated Woodpecker pics, that is! I got quite the thrill today as I drove down our street on my way home from town, and I didn’t have my camera with me. I wanted to kick myself! Right by the side of the road, impossible to miss, was a Pileated Woodpecker pecking away at a tree. He was HUGE! and GORGEOUS. Darn, why did I forget that camera? I drove home as fast as I could, unloaded the dogs from the car into the house, grabbed my camera and a fresh battery and drove back down to where he had been. Would he still be there? YES. The bird gods were with me today.

I’ve always thought of them as Woody Woodpeckers, since they inspired the cartoon character. [ You know: Heh-heh-heh-HEH-heh!” ] I knew we had Pileateds around but I had heard that people don’t actually see them very much as they are known to be shy birds. This one was not too shy since I just drove up next to the side of the road and put my window down. He didn’t budge. Too busy getting yummy bugs out of his new hole. You can see how he was twisting his head around to get just the right angle.

To give you an idea of how big he was [about the size of a small crow, around 17 inches tall] I took this photo of the tree he was on. You can see he’s been very busy drilling holes—it must be a favorite tree of his. In the photos above you can see his tail is covering the hole below while he pecks away at the one above. Now look at the photo below and you will get an idea of his size. The two highest holes on the left hand side of the tree is where he was. That kind of puts his size in perspective for you.

From now on my camera goes with me. Everywhere. No matter if it’s just a short, boring jaunt into town. Because you just never know what you might see.

To read more about Pileated Woodpeckers, follow this link.

I am so jealous. I’ve wanted to see one since we moved.

if you want to see more of them
make suet/peanutbutter and hang in suet feeders
you get the suet at shoprite, chop it fine..( sussex meat may have it cheap too)
put it in a big pot of water
boil it for a while
it will render
let it cool and it will get hard and solid
I remelt it and add some peanut butter…not much
and freeze it

the birds love it
and we get a LOT of woodpeckers as well as other birds all winter

or we used to before moron neighbor moved in with their feral cats

vi

These pics are beautiful!! WOW!!

Yes I read, though sporadically. There’s no blog I read every day ... there are so many great ones. Thanks for the woodpecker pics. Nature must be so different in NJ compared to the arid mountain dryness of Colorado.

oh…... but they will peck the house….
that’s how I fell off the roof twice

don’t ask
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ok so it was a funny story
vi

Vi, vi, vi ... you know what happens when I put out suet? The BEARS come! Yes, even now they are not in hibernation. Poor birdies, no suet for them. Not unless I invite the bear community too!

I love your pack of pic’s of peckers and bears….yes I finally got around to my weekly read last night….grr still have to update my own.
Oh and the snow started here and wouldn’t stop for a week…by wednesday many roads were unusable. Sorry I didn’t take pictures. Thursday a chinook blew in and now most of the snow is gone. I am done with this wierd winter!

Great photos! I’ve only been able to catch a glimpse of the Pileated Woodpecker around here. The biggest woodpeckers that I see all the time are the Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted Flicker) they are about 30cm long and the Hairy Woodpeckers about 24cm long. 
I see a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers & a pair of the smaller Downy Woodpeckers (18 cm long) in my yard all the time.  http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=39 

One year we had a pair of Northern Flickers build a nest in a dead tree at the end of the neighbour’s driveway. The baby birds would begin to SCREAM incessantly for food each morning beginning at sun up.  When the last young bird finally left the nest cavity my neighbour chopped the tree down…