Check out my really cool visitor

This beautiful fellow was diligently working at fishing dinner out of an old fallen tree across the road from my front yard. I knew he would be gone by the time I got the camera and came back out, but no, he was still there. So, I'd shoot a couple of frames, then walk a few steps closer, shoot a couple more frames, couple more steps.

At about 50', he started getting that irritated "gonna fly away" look, so I just took a couple more shots and retreated back to the house, put away the camera and got out the binoculars. He is an incredibly beautiful bird, and strong. He was flipping chunks of bark off the old tree that were easily as big as my palm.

Sorry about the focus, with my eyes at that distance, it was the best I could do

Pileated woodpecker. Very loud birds, there was a pair that would hammer away on huge pine tree in front of the apartment I lived in with my mother in Michigan. Every morning around 6 am, without fail, one of them would be out there.

Oh yeah - they have the WEIRDEST call too. I never saw one in person till I moved to Minnesota. BIGGGGGGGGG birds too!

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Oh yeah - they have the WEIRDEST call too. I never saw one in person till I moved to Minnesota. BIGGGGGGGGG birds too!

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He certainly is. He is nearly as large as a crow. Granted, I was using the Nikon, but that photo was from almost 50 feet away. He's quite the large boy.

We have a woodpecker in the tree in our front yard. I never see him, but I sure can hear him!

Nice picture.

Last summer we had a not so smart "metal pecker". It would sound like the old radiators when they would make the loud knocking sound. Woke me up early every morning and took me a while to figure out what the heck it was, but I saw him out on the pile of scrap metal one morning just pecking away. Dummy.

A lot of woodpeckers like tapping on metal.
It'll drive you insane if they happen to find your tin roof an adequate tapping surface.


That photo is amazing, I've never seen any of the large ones in person, just the red bellies

They're pretty common in Arkansas, and I've seen a lot of them up there. East Texas, too.