# Pileated Woodpecker



## thewoodlands (Oct 7, 2009)

This picture was taken from inside my house.

Zap


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## PapaDave (Oct 7, 2009)

Big suckers, aren't they?
We have a few that love to bang on the power poles. Hard to mistake the sound.
Woody Woodpecker right in my own yard.
For you younger folks, that's a reference to a cartoon from loooong ago, and faaaar away land.

Dave


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## firefighterjake (Oct 7, 2009)

The holes they leave are amazing in themselves . . . I've had one going to town on a pine in my front yard . . . needless to say I believe I may have to take down this pine in the near future as it is pretty close to the house . . . of course I could just let the pileated woodpecker take it down, but I don't know if he would drop the tree where I want it to be dropped.


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## savageactor7 (Oct 7, 2009)

Here's one that was around last winter.


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## stejus (Oct 7, 2009)

Ahh, AKA (Woody Woodpecker).   This was the bird in the the famous cartoon "Woody Woodpecker".  These are awesum birds to see peck wood.  It sounds like a jack hammer going at the wood.   We see them from June through Aug.  That's about it around here.


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## savageactor7 (Oct 7, 2009)

Just shot this about 30 min ago and it was real windy out when it landed and later took off.


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## maplewood (Oct 7, 2009)

PapaDave said:
			
		

> Big suckers, aren't they?
> We have a few that love to bang on the power poles. Hard to mistake the sound.
> Woody Woodpecker right in my own yard.
> For you younger folks, that's a reference to a cartoon from loooong ago, and faaaar away land.
> Dave



...I remember.  Woody, Knothead, Splinter, Wally the Walrus, Chilly Willy - they bring back simpler, more innocent times.
I sound like an old man - and I'm not even a grandfather!
Yes, they are big birds.  I can't imagine how their brain takes that beating.
Happy burning.


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## Highbeam (Oct 7, 2009)

We get them here in the NW as well. I have a family of them in my woodlot, seems they like the rooten wood of the older alder trees. Surely looking for bugs in there. I find the huge piles of chips at the base of the tree. 

Trouble is they are a protected species so their habitat, as evidenced by the pecker holes, is protected as well. I chase them off now, they're almost as bad as having an eagle nest on your woodlot.


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## billb3 (Oct 8, 2009)

I'll get one (at a time) at my suet feeder.
Messy picker, ends up allover.

I watched one out the kitchen sink window one morning going round and round a stump, away to a nearby tree and back.


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## madison (Oct 9, 2009)

Stump Grinder


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## semipro (Oct 11, 2009)

We have these woodpeckers in our area.  Their calls are crazy.  They sounds more like a topical bird to me. Thanks for the pic.


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## SmokinPiney (Oct 11, 2009)

First time i hunted in NY i heard this strange almost funny sound coming through the woods. When it finally broke through the treetops i saw it was a good sized bird. Then it started hammerin on the trees! When i got back to camp i told the guys, they said just wait till he hammers on the tree your in haha. Sure are some big woodpeckers up that way!


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## madison (Oct 11, 2009)

Not Pileated, but funny:

"Quit hogging the feeder"


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## madison (Oct 11, 2009)

Another of the stump grinder:


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## rphurley (Oct 12, 2009)

I've seen these on the suet feeder, but it's the others that peck holes in the house that drive me crazy. A fake owl, alternated with some other flashy bs hanging from the house has done the job so far this summer.


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## savageactor7 (Oct 12, 2009)

Madison we have them too, pretty sure they call 'em Northern Fletchers...or Flickas 




I just discovered the joy of feeding birds not to long ago.  Cobbled this partial cover for the suet cage to keep the black birds away since they would devour a suet cake in a day.


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## madison (Oct 12, 2009)

madison said:
			
		

> Not Pileated, but funny:
> 
> "Quit hogging the feeder"



Savage you are correct, Northern (Yellow Shafted) Flicker (male) on top of the feeder, Red Bellied (male) on the perch.


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## madison (Oct 12, 2009)

Waiting for breakfast...  Most likely sharp shinned, tail not visible but it was squared off.


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