The Culprit

Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker

For those who saw my black and white posting referring to a superstitious bird (knocking on wood, of course) linked below, I thought I would share a photo of the actual culprit, the pileated woodpecker himself. He was on a huge and very old maple that is one of my favourite trees, behind our house. This bird is doing his best to bring it down single handed beaked.

44 Responses

  1. +Ursula Klepper thanks a lot. He's about 45+ cm long, so he's a big boy (or girl). We have really small ones here too, much prettier but not nearly so impressive and destructive.
    Let me know when you post them, Ursula, please.

  2. He is such a great looking guy! (Or lady) this is a really neat shot Ellie! We also have woodpeckers here (looking a bit different then yours) and they come to our bird food. I also took some shots but haven't yet posted (even processed) :>)

  3. Thanks a lot, +Stephen MacIntosh I was really pleased to find him sitting pretty so close to the house and though we had been having a conversation right under where he was before we looked for him, he didn't seem in any hurry to leave, giving me time to get my camera and change to my 70-300 mm lens.

  4. They are, +Rob Patterson and though I have had one on my feeder occasionally, it is much better for me to get a photo of one in the natural habitat, tearing a tree to shreds, even if it is one of my favourites. Thanks, Rob.

  5. +Ellie Kennard Aha!!! And now I've found yours!! LOL Thanks, +Liz C, for the tip!! They are super fun to see in person, too. They are so powerful in the way they attack trees to find grubs and insects. They rip whole chunks of tree off when they do! 😀

  6. Fantastic shot Ellie. Really shows the beauty of the bird. Also love all the texture in the tree.

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