woodpecker breakfasting in Krumville

[halia and flammeus]

Shot from the upstairs window. Basically looking at our driveway.

JayH, I am counting on you for 1970's cartoon references -

heh-heh-heh-HEH-heh

 

[MattC]

Yes, definitely a Pileated, so the Woody reference is appropriate. Nice shots.

Matt

 

[IndianChris]

Awesome pics!
Never saw one in the wild.
Where you guys live?

 

[Grumpy]

You may have seen a pileated woodpecker in the wild, but not realized what you were looking at.

In flight they have a kind of shrieking call, and their flight pattern oscillates up and down like a continuous sine wave trace.

G.

 

[Fisher Cat]

You may have seen a pileated woodpecker in the wild, but not realized what you were looking at.

In flight they have a kind of shrieking call, and their flight pattern oscillates up and down like a continuous sine wave trace.

G.

I'm no ornithologist but I've seen 2 while hiking in NH and another 8 this year alone where we live now. They are also unmistakeable in flight because they display their white "invasion striping" when they fly. (All allied aircraft during the D-Day invasion had white stripes prominently painted on their wings, usually 3 bands, to distinguish them from German aircraft.)
The 8 we've seen here have been at a nearby EEC (Enviromental Education Center) and when we tell the manager he always asks us if we're sure they're not Downy's. I don't mean to sound elitist, but never ask a NH boy if he's mistaken a robin-sized Downy for a crow-sized Pileated. One time my wife was with me when we saw 3 together so it was nice to have a witness. Too skittish for cameras when we see them but once we followed 2 as they hopped around the trunk of a tree before they started branch hopping away from us.
They are a beautiful bird indeed.

 

[audrey]

Very nice! I consider it great good fortune to spot a pileated. Never got a good photo though.

 

[sardog1]

Okay, here's an open, sincere offer to all comers. If anyone wants a sure thing sighting of a Pileated (for a life list or any other purpose), send me a PM. They nest in our yard, and I can usually find them twelve months of the year in our vicinity. You just have to get yerself to SE NH at a mutually agreed time.

 

[Jay H]

Ha, I've got nothing other than Woody Woodpecker...

In fact, I saw a pileated woody today too just down the street from me..

Jay

 

[halia and flammeus]

Awesome pics!
Never saw one in the wild.
Where you guys live?

Why, Krumville, of course which is right next to Samsonville.

Ok ok - Catskill area, Ulster County NY, south of the Ashokan Reservoir. Very near Ashokan High point and Mombaccus mountains.

In this general area (MidHudson Valley, NY) they are not hard to spot. THey are large - bigger than anything else you might see hopping up or down a tree trunk. Ok, anything ornithological hopping up or down trees.

Thanks - you guys are all too generous re: photo quality - looks a little flattened from the zoom and pixellated from the enlargement - no?

Anyway - thanks for lookin!

 

[the_swede]

Very cool! Looks just like Woody. Once in a blue moon I'll hear a woodpecker pecking away at a tree in my neighborhood but I'm not sure if it's the same kind.

 

[leaf]

They must have a big range because the only place I've seen them was in Georgia. Didn't know they were up here. Cool.

 

[halia and flammeus]

Very cool! Looks just like Woody. Once in a blue moon I'll hear a woodpecker pecking away at a tree in my neighborhood but I'm not sure if it's the same kind.

When I've seen them and heard them pecking, their pecks are not rapid, and kind of syncopated. Often I hear the very regular and rapid tap-tap-tap, but I think that might be a different pecker bird. I think flickers peck, and sapsuckers, as well as downies and hairies. These big guys, when I've seen them pecking, are slow and have lots of pauses in their pecks.

First time I saw Pileated WPs, I was sleeping in the back of a pick-up truck, behind a convenient store in Owen Sound, ontario. I was awakened by the classic Woody Woodpecker laugh - and my first thought was that I was surrounded by monkeys. I peeked out from my sleeping bag in the bed of the truck and there were 3 enormous Pileated woodpeckers on a tree at the edge of the parking lot. It was a funny way to start my cross country adventure!

 

[Jay H]

The one I saw this weekend was pretty large, was just flying around, flew into the nook of a tree, then eventually took off. it was pretty neat.

I did not see Chilly Willy though...

Jay

 

[Grumpy]

I have watched pileated woodpeckers at work in my back yard. They are formidable.

In one instance, a single pileated woodpecker literally demolished a basswood bolt about 20" in diameter and 24" long one Saturday morning. Basswood is pretty soft stuff, and the chips -- big chips -- really flew, even with the relatively slow cadence of the pecking.

In the woods, pileated woodpecker workings often are large, nearly rectangular (narrower than they are long) vertical excavations on dead or bug infested tree trunks. A good pile of chips will lie on the ground below a fresh project. In some cases, I've also seen a standing dead tree in which the upper part has broken off literally torn apart -- starting at the top and working down -- by the birds. They can produce a startlingly shredded mess.

G.

 

[Danielle]

The last time I saw a pileated woodpecker was on a run this fall. This one was pecking away at a telephone pole along the side of a quiet country road. Could he really have found anything in a telephone pole? Regardless, they are pretty magnificent birds, and I always smile whenever I have the chance to see one.

 

[sardog1]

I have watched pileated woodpeckers at work in my back yard. They are formidable.

. . . They can produce a startlingly shredded mess.

G.

I came home one day outside Seattle and thought momentarily that someone had sprayed our roof fascia with an automatic weapon. Then I realized that a Pileated had determined that we had carpenter ants . . .

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

I guess...

they may be more common than I thought. I have seen them in the mountains, but we have a nesting pair right here in tiny Kingston State Park. I've seen them several years running now.

Their laugh is classic.

" I was awakened by the classic Woody Woodpecker laugh - and my first thought was that I was surrounded by monkeys." -Halia and Flammeus

If you are old enough, like me, then you remember the TV show "Tarzan" where the call of these woodpeckers was used regularly as a "Jungle" sound. Even as a kid I knew better.

KDT

 

[Jason Berard]

They are very cool birds indeed! The first time I saw one, I was section hiking the AT, and saw a bird with a looping flight off to my right. At first glance, I thought it was a crow with an apple in its mouth! The call is not very far off from Woody's laugh.... a loud, shrill cackle. On my section of the AT over Moose Mtn. in Hanover there is a 10" dia. that broke off 15' above the ground. The top 3 feet of it has been reduced to 1 1/2" diameter from a Pileated Woodpecker!

 

[evilhanz]

They're very impressive birds. I live near a lake in southern NH and see Pileated Woodpeckers a few times a year, mostly in Spring. They're fond of a couple of the larger trees in my backyard. Once while out on a walk, I even passed one hopping around on the ground a few feet away. I couldn't believe how large it was. They make all the little downy woodpeckers that hang around seem dull by comparison.

 

[halia and flammeus]

In our neck o' the woods, downies are common, and the pileated are also frequently heard if not seen. We don't see hairies much - are they less common, or am I just mistaking them for big downies?