Monday, January 12, 2009

The Quest for the Pileated Woodpecker

I have a lot of wildlife in my yard. I have deer and racoons and squirrels and a huge assortment of birds including several species of woodpeckers. I have cardnials and blujays and big huge crows, I have blackcapped chickadees, tufted tit mouse, nuthatches, robins, sparrows and an assortment of finches......but back to the woodpeckers.....

I have all of the Indiana species of woodpeckers.......I have the downy and the hairy and the redbelly and the redheaded and most recently the Pileated. Last spring I saw the male and the female on my feeders.......I have two woodpecker feeders on my back deck....... they were just passing thru apparently cuz I didn't see them again until recently.

Two weeks ago the female was on the feeder......she's gorgeous!! Of course the camera wasn't anywhere near where I was but I watched her for over 20minutes..on the feeder..then off to a tree then back to the feeder........the following weekend she was out there again......so I carefully went and grabbed the camera.... as soon as I put it up to take her picture she flew off the feeder. Ok.. no problem... she'll be back. I watched her in the trees for about 20 minutes... she'd fly by the deck and then head to another tree..... I finally gave up.

This past weekend I had the camera in my pocket. I went to the kitchen around the time I normally see her.... there she was... in the trees......... she wouldn't even land on the feeder!

But while waiting for her I did get to take pictures of two fawns wandering in my yard......

I will get her picture.......I will I will........but in the meantime.... maybe I'll just take pictures of the other birds........