Got Him: Pileated Woodpecker!

The Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) was the bird that inspired me to acquire a Birdcam.  The first time I spotted one at the feeders, I knew I had to find a way get a photo.  They are wary and fast and difficult to catch with a camera.  When I discovered the Wingscapes Birdcam I had a hunch it might be the solution.  It took eight and a half months to get this clear shot, which really isn't bad.  Can you sense the grin on my face coming through the screen?

The Pileated is North America's largest woodpecker and one of our most beautiful birds.  Only the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was larger, but this bird is now believed to be extinct.  Seeing them soar through the trees in glider fashion is a magnificent sight.  It becomes easy to imagine how these birds could be related to dinosaurs like pterodactyls.  They run up and down the sides of trees like acrobats.  The vertical world of the forest is truly their habitat, and they own it totally.

They make wonderful noises that reverberate through the trees.  Their calls and their drumming have a primeval quality.  They evoke thoughts of what the world might have been like before humans.

It took this guy a couple of weeks to find this new BirdCam station.  I anticipate he will be returning occasionally now that he has found it.  I have re-aimed the camera downward just a bit to try and get the entire bird in the next shots.