Pileated Woodpecker

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I was patching and painting the house yesterday when I ran into this little Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). . . or should I say she ran into me? She was eating carpenter ants off of the house and pecking away at the facia.



I obviously didn't scare her much with the camera as she just moved over to an oak tree and started stripping the bark off the tree, pulling out ants.



ABOVE: She ate all the ants that were walking on the bark first. . . then

BELOW: I set the camera to high speed and snapped as she pounded the bark with her beak to knock the bark from the tree, revealing many more ants. Her little red hairdo would get messed up for just a split second and then it would all bounce back as she pulled her head up.

Interesting in this shot is that her eyes closed with each slam against the tree. . .much like a shark's eyes close when they tear into prey.



I'm calling her a girl because males have a red line down the sides of the throat. . . and I don't see that in any of these images.



Her call was sort of a wild laugh, similar to the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). . . it sounded something like. . . "kik-kik-kikkik--kik-kik."

I'm not at all a bird guy but I have to admit that she distracted me from the swarms of mosquitoes and 95 F. heat (35 C.) for a while. . . which was nice.

I'm going to work on the house some more this afternoon . . . I'll look around for a nest. They make one of the largest in-tree nests of any North American birds so it shouldn't be too hard to find if she's nesting in our woods. I'm setting my work time to 3:00 pm or after. . .when the sun is partially blocked by the tall oaks on the west side of the property.