Henry Rifle Forums

This is a rare bird at my house. The neighbor across the street is taking down several tall pine trees. The poles are still standing, which is where a pair of these birds first landed this morning. I wish the photo was more than just a snapshot, but it was really cool to watch them while they were here.

I see one occasionally around here.
Do still remember the first time I saw one, back in the late 80's.
Was walking back to the house, had been out in the woods scouting or something.
Had to do some searching before I figured out what it was.
Lol, no Google back then.

RP

As long as there on the tree and not on the house. Hotel up the street from my house has had a heck of time with them. They have been hammering away on the stucco. I see where there are several large patches of repair. Not to mention the big fake owls on the roof.

Congrats, CT. Glad you got a chance to see a Pileated. In our north woods, the Pileated is not only a common bird, but also an iconic north woods bird, right there with the Common Loon. They are a frequent visitor to our winter bird feeders. For those not familiar with this woodpecker, the Pileated is a large bird, with some approaching the size of a crow. Hard to miss when one flies through the woods or visits your yard.

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Don't want them hammering on aluminum ladders either. I once left a 24ft extension ladder leaning on a tree for access to a mason bee box. Woodpecker would bang on that ladder every morning. Annoying.

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:21 pm

As long as there on the tree and not on the house. Hotel up the street from my house has had a heck of time with them. They have been hammering away on the stucco. I see where there are several large patches of repair. Not to mention the big fake owls on the roof.

They are fairly common around here and I enjoy seeing them ..some of the old timers when I was a little boy long years ago called them wood hens... They are neat looking.

I like seeing the big knockers. We used to have flickers banging on our metal flue caps. An interesting way to wake up.

Mags wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 2:31 pm

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Don't want them hammering on aluminum ladders either. I once left a 24ft extension ladder leaning on a tree for access to a mason bee box. Woodpecker would bang on that ladder every morning. Annoying.

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:21 pm

As long as there on the tree and not on the house. Hotel up the street from my house has had a heck of time with them. They have been hammering away on the stucco. I see where there are several large patches of repair. Not to mention the big fake owls on the roof.

I hear that (). There's a metal power pole on the hillside a few hundred feet from my place that they like to bang on. They haven't been around as much the last few years, don't know the species, they have red tail feathers and are about the size of a Robin.

We have them in our yard daily feeding on the suet feeders. They are a unique bird. We love watching them. The male has a red stripe mid-way down the side of it's head. The female does not. I have even seen 3 at a time on occasion. They are daily visitors in our yard.
We use hot pepper suet that ALL the birds love. The hot pepper is the only one the squirrels don't decimate.

They killed several trees in the back yard but we do like them.