The rat- a –tat- tatting noise echos through the woods. It sounds like something is being attacked.
Someone is looking for a new home.
The woodchips fall to the forest floor.
This tree is at the end of our short driveway…luckily the old piss popple tree (Aspen) is leaning away from the road…and the wind is hardly ever from the east.
This is the culprit and we are feeding him. He is a male Pileated Woodpecker. The bird book says “His diggings oval to oblong holes, indicated his presence.”
That and his rat- a- tat- tatting. FYI usually they will not bother a healthy tree…just ones that have bugs and are dying anyway.
Mason and I are watching this tree. Mason ( Great nephew) is our resident lumberjack or lumberMason he lives next door.
Those are some holes! I have heard that machine-gun rattle in the woods next to us but haven't seen the evidence up close. We did have a dead tree that was visible from our windows - we called it the hotel because with its many holes we figured any number of birds and animals were living in it. It finally fell and now probably houses a different group.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool. I have never seen that before. I hear the woodpeckers all the time but have never seen the results of all their noise.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! those are big holes. But I love those Woodpeckers so much. Blessings Francine.,
ReplyDeleteThat is one ambitious woodpecker...I can't believe the holes he is making in the tree!
ReplyDeleteHow nice that the woodpeckers only make holes in dead trees. Isn't nature smart?
ReplyDeleteShirley H.
I too had a panic last year when the woodpeckers were really working an number on my green ash out front but I reminded myself - there are bugs there that they are taking care of as they should. And apparently they did as they aren't interested in it this winter.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Linda Kay! That's a busy bird!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I saw the holes I guessed the bird that made them! I have only seen. pileated twice, but I know where it pecked away and the holes still remain! You caught a great photo!
ReplyDeleteWe have woodpeckers that visit our bird feeders too. We used to have one who would hammer on the metal lining the outside of our chimney. Such a racket!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a woodpecker in years. On the farm, Red-heads woodpeckers loved to wake us up in the morning drilling on the gables of the house. Eventually, their efforts were stopped with aluminum siding
ReplyDeleteI wanted to tell you I really like your header!
ReplyDeleteLinda ❤⊱彡
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You are so very fortunate to have a Pileated Woodpecker at your feeder! I hear them often here and occasionally even see one in the trees around our place, but I have never seen one at our suet feeder.
ReplyDeleteLucky you! I love pileated woodpeckers. They are out of the dinosaur age I think. I heard lots of woodpecker activity yesterday, too, when the sun was out. Now we are getting snow on top of ice and no one is out, not even the woodpeckers.
ReplyDeleteI remember one of our neighbors in Minnesota would get so excited when she saw one of them. They look confused as the keep pecking out a new spot each time. I wouldn't think that kind of tree would have so many insects. I hear our peckers working out there and I guess there must be some kind of insect in the wood for them to eat, even at these temperatures.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what big chunks of wood the pileated can knock off.
ReplyDeleteI just love wood peckers! We hear them frequently around our house too. When we had bird feeders up (before cats), they were frequent visitors.
ReplyDeleteWe hear that rat -a -tat knock, knock here in our trees but it is all the other types of woodpeckers and birds breaking open seeds from the feeders lol ! I have only seen one of those Pileated Wood peckers here in our valley last year ! Nice photo . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !
ReplyDeleteAwesome, we very rarely get to see one. We have lots of the Downy woodpeckers though.
ReplyDeleteWe had one try to drill holes in our metal gate. You can imagine the noise that made:)
ReplyDeleteI guess pileated woodpeckers don't have to worry about concussions from repetitive impact. :-)
ReplyDeleteLike Mason, I would be keeping an eye on that tree too. It is cool and interesting.
That is so neat. I love that sound. When we're hiking in the woods I often hear them rat-a-tatting away. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't hear them much here..but I have seen their handiwork over in the pine rows. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing their brains aren't scrambled to pulp! ;)
ReplyDelete