A surprise visit from two woodpecker families!
Mar 20, 2018 14:56:03 #
Last Friday while working at the desktop I happened to glance out a nearby window which overlooks the front lawn and noticed what I initially thought were two squirrels playing near the base of a very old black walnut tree were two pileated woodpeckers! I grabbed my camera which had the 150-600 lens attached and went into an adjacent room which had a little better angle of view from its window, and quietly eased up the bottom sash enough to allow the barrel of the lens through and had fired off several rapid shots before I noticed the "E" appearing on the right side of the viewfinder and realized that I had failed to replace the memory card after using it to download some images the night before. I ran back and retrieved the card. Now again looking through the viewfinder I realized that instead of two pileated, we now had only one, plus a pair of northern yellow-shafted flickers and they were feeding on something inside of three sizable holes that they had drilled near the base of the old tree. I think that the prey were carpenter ants and the woodpeckers were feeding on the ones within the tree and apparently the ones on the ground! All images were taken from a distance of 90 feet, so moved our rolling blind (a little camper van) to shorten the distance and spent about three hours waiting the next morning with no results other than a few decent images of other small birds.
Mar 20, 2018 15:27:26 #
Holy wood peckers ! - a great opportunity well done !......thanks for sharing
Mar 20, 2018 15:27:46 #
That was quite a story, Corky.. you had me sitting at the edge of my seat and after all you typed, hopefully you didn't lose it and have to retype!!
Wonderful shots of such beautiful birds!! I've never seen a Pileated woodpecker, they are so unique, but I did have a Northern Flicker visit me every day in the winter.
Hope you see them all again and that you are ready to click!!
Take care and hope this next nor'easter passes you by.... supposed to get snow here tomorrow and Thursday.
....after thought, with such big holes at the base of the tree, does that kill the tree??
Wonderful shots of such beautiful birds!! I've never seen a Pileated woodpecker, they are so unique, but I did have a Northern Flicker visit me every day in the winter.
Hope you see them all again and that you are ready to click!!
Take care and hope this next nor'easter passes you by.... supposed to get snow here tomorrow and Thursday.
....after thought, with such big holes at the base of the tree, does that kill the tree??
Mar 20, 2018 15:55:29 #
Mar 20, 2018 16:46:36 #
Nice job catching these birds! Very shy, they fly away the moment they spot me.
Mar 20, 2018 17:07:10 #
Mar 20, 2018 17:38:14 #
angela k wrote:
That was quite a story, Corky.. you had me sittin... (show quote)
Angla, you won't believe this-- I had just hit quote reply to respond to your message when Ellen called me for lunch, and when I came back it wouldn't allow me to continue so I just hit update and it allowed me to reply, as I was thinking that that would be better than having a partially completed reply on the thread and so after about a paragraph I hit send and a note comes up saying sorry to much time has passed and it eats my message!..... As I had said they seemed to be working almost as a team as both pairs were feeding together. We are experiencing the effects of the nor'easter also and the tide is just above the walkway on the pier, and sure hope that you guys don't get nailed again and even here they are calling for rain tonight with some mixed snow with a possibility of snow tomorrow........Yes, I'm afraid that this may be the end for the old tree and you may have noticed that one side of the base was very dark which was caused my much sap bleeding from the disturbed areas, and will weaken it even more. When we first came on the scene about 25 years ago there were four walnut trees and now we are down to two. You guys take care and this weather reminds why I prefer being in Florida at this time, although I heard on the weather channel that they have tornado warnings out for a large section of the state! No place to hide!
Mar 20, 2018 17:46:08 #
imagemeister wrote:
Holy wood peckers ! - a great opportunity well done !......thanks for sharing
Many thanks, Larry and it just seems like every once in a while these things happen, but was in hopes that they would return so I would have a chance to make some closer shots--- but know I should be thankful for this much! Thanks again and take care!
Mar 20, 2018 17:50:53 #
Treepusher wrote:
Nice job catching these birds! Very shy, they fly away the moment they spot me.
Many thanks, Randy and I have the same [problem. and that's why I just eased the window up enough to get the barrel of the lens out and would have liked to have gotten closer but knew that if I opened the dour they would have flown! Take care!
Mar 20, 2018 18:01:19 #
Interesting narrative and very good captures Corky, they are all beautiful birds. We have two that come on the nuts in the front garden, but they only have to see you at the window and they are off!
Mar 20, 2018 18:16:39 #
Sylvias wrote:
Interesting narrative and very good captures Corky, they are all beautiful birds. We have two that come on the nuts in the front garden, but they only have to see you at the window and they are off!
Thanks, Sylvia and ours are also very skittish and I hear the pileated woodpeckers most days when I'm outside but really don't see them that often and haven't seen many flickers for the last several years! Take care and if you guys are still in South Africa hope that you are having fun!
Mar 20, 2018 18:17:51 #
Mar 20, 2018 18:26:44 #
DOOK wrote:
Excellent set, Corky.
Thanks, Earl and appreciate the smiley faces!
Mar 20, 2018 18:44:19 #
Swamp-Cork wrote:
Angla, you won't believe this-- I had just hit quo... (show quote)
Corky, just reading your first five words, I had to laugh... another pc adventure for you, but I'm glad you got this message to me! Sad if this old tree has limited time, but with this crazy weather, it's best you take care of it. I heard there were hail storms in some Southern states that caused massive damage... and tornado warnings, also the other day, earthquakes in Oklahoma!! They're saying we might get 12-16", but we shall see... I'm hoping they're wrong again!
Take care and hope this storm passes you by!!
Mar 20, 2018 20:29:28 #
Swamp-Cork wrote:
Last Friday while working at the desktop I happene... (show quote)
i do believe you struck it rich, corky! to see them both in the same day is so cool and to get good shots is even cooler!
you got your nature kick big time!
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