Pileated Woodpecker

Another gloomy day and I wasn't sure where to go birding. I wandered around a bit and ended up at Wapato State Park. The trail was pretty sloppy with mud in places and while trying to traverse one of these areas without slipping on my butt a Pileated Woodpecker swooped in announcing its arrival with its loud call.
It was near the top of a large tree and I was only able to get a few shots of it before it took off. Not the greatest pictures, but I don't see Pileateds very often. I heard it (and perhaps another) calling out throughout the rest of my walk through the park, occasionally seeing it flying from tree to tree, but I never got anymore close looks.

Pileated Woodpecker

I have seen a Pileated Woodpecker once before in my lifetime. The Pileated, for me, is one of those glamor birds; big, beautiful and elusive. So, when I had my first sighting, it was a trill. Still, it wasn't fully satisfying as I saw the bird at the Portland Audubon Society's suet feeder from inside the visitor center. A legitimate sighting, but kinda like fishing at a fish farm.
Sighting number two.
As I mentioned on Thursday, I had intended on spending the morning at Fernbank Forest in Atlanta, but was turned away when I got there since access was closed to the public until after 2:00 PM. So I hiked about four or five blocks away and spent some time at Olmsted Park.
Olmsted was quite an active park. After about an hour or so, I heard a loud bird flying into the park. I looked up and saw a large black bird through the branches as it flew above the tree tops. It swooped down and landed on the side of a the trunk of a large tree not far from me. It was obvious that it was a Pileated Woodpecker.
The lighting was difficult as the sun was behind the bird and the bright sky streaming through the leaves served as the background. As I took pictures the best I could, I noticed a couple of interesting behaviors. First, it bobbed back and forth, swinging its large head from side to side. I'm not sure what this behavior accomplished. Second, it stuck its head down upward facing knot holes in two different trees. I assume it was either looking for food or drinking water. Heavy thunder storms had passed through the day before dropping a lot of rain, so the holes could have had water in them.
Another thing I noticed after looking at the photos on my computer was the large hole in the side of the tree not much higher than where the Pileated had landed. I wonder if it was the bird's nest?
All-in-all, quite an exciting sighting.

Pileated Woodpecker

After things slowed down a bit at the Audubon Society of Portland's bird feeders a couple of Saturday's ago, I wandered around the visitor center to see what they had to offer. There were several stuffed birds and animals and of course a nice gift shop. Off to one side I noticed a large empty room and peeked in to see what was inside. It looked like it may be used for lectures, etc. There was a family in there so I assumed it was OK to go in a look around. The room formed a 90 degree angle with the wall that had the windows looking out on the bird feeders and this room also had a large window looking out in that direction. There was another suet feeder hanging just outside the window. I was standing there looking out the window when this enormous Pileated Woodpecker flew up and landed on the suet feeder. Wow! I've always wanted to see one of these birds and here was one right in front of me. There are things I wish could have be better from a picture taking stand point, but the fact that I saw one of these birds and was able to take pictures of it is a highlight of this new hobby of mine.