Finally, the whole famdamily was in the living room when the big Pileated Woodpecker dropped by one of our dead trees. Garry had never seen him before, but the big bird stayed around for a while.

He is really busy. Not just pecking for insects, but tearing huge pieces of bark off the tree and tossing them to the ground. Huge pieces of bark, but that is one big bird. You can’t really see how big he is without another bird with which to compare him, but he’s as big as a red-shouldered hawk and looks like Woody Woodpecker, except his head is not purple.

Owen took the pictures. Good thing I keep a camera on the table next to me.

Meanwhile, we finally took the feeders down last night. There were more than a dozen Cowbirds on the deck. Even today, every few minutes another one would cruise by, just in case food had arrived. A few of the pretty little finches came by too, but we have to keep the feeders down at least long enough to convince the Cowbirds to move on down the road. I put out a new piece of suet for them, though I think the raccoons are back too.

Welcome to the zoo!

Categories: #Birds, #gallery, #Photography, Blackstone Valley, Wildlife, Woodpeckers

Tags: #Photography, birds, Marilyn Armstrong, Nature, Pileated Woodpecker, Wildlife, Woodpecker