Keeping an eye on things
Hanging out on the front porch
Nestbuilding? Or just housework?Copyright 2008 Lydia Hinshaw
ORMOND BEACH, FL -- For weeks I've been hearing woodpeckers hard at work in the neighborhood. It's tough to get a look at them, though.
Sunday I spotted a pileated woodpecker on a dead palm tree in the park a block from my house. I've never gotten a picture of one of these colorful guys before, and didn't figure I'd do very well this time since I only had my point-and-shoot camera with me.
Once I spotted the hole in the tree and realized the bird lives there, I hurried back home to get the SLR and the long lens. What a lucky day!
A pair of woodpeckers are making their home in this tree. The bird I initially saw was the female. Shortly after I returned with the big camera, her mate returned and as soon as he alighted outside their door, she flew away, perhaps on a lunch break.
One hour and 104 photographs later, these are my best shots.
Mr. Woodpecker was working inside the tree much of the time. Periodically he would stick his head out the door to check on things, and several times he came to the door to spit out a beak-full of sawdust, visible in the third photo.
His watchfulness was partly because of yet another bird, a female red-bellied woodpecker, who was lurking higher on the trunk of the same palm. I suspected that Mr. Pileated was worried that Ms. Red-bellied might be a home-invader.
Later, I did some Internet research and discovered that the red-bellied woodpecker does indeed prefer stealing to building when it comes to homes. And both species like to eat the ants that are often found in dead tree-trunks.
I expect I'll be standing under a tree in the park a lot in the next few days.
Sunday I spotted a pileated woodpecker on a dead palm tree in the park a block from my house. I've never gotten a picture of one of these colorful guys before, and didn't figure I'd do very well this time since I only had my point-and-shoot camera with me.
Once I spotted the hole in the tree and realized the bird lives there, I hurried back home to get the SLR and the long lens. What a lucky day!
A pair of woodpeckers are making their home in this tree. The bird I initially saw was the female. Shortly after I returned with the big camera, her mate returned and as soon as he alighted outside their door, she flew away, perhaps on a lunch break.
One hour and 104 photographs later, these are my best shots.
Mr. Woodpecker was working inside the tree much of the time. Periodically he would stick his head out the door to check on things, and several times he came to the door to spit out a beak-full of sawdust, visible in the third photo.
His watchfulness was partly because of yet another bird, a female red-bellied woodpecker, who was lurking higher on the trunk of the same palm. I suspected that Mr. Pileated was worried that Ms. Red-bellied might be a home-invader.
Later, I did some Internet research and discovered that the red-bellied woodpecker does indeed prefer stealing to building when it comes to homes. And both species like to eat the ants that are often found in dead tree-trunks.
I expect I'll be standing under a tree in the park a lot in the next few days.
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