Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Female Pileated Woodpecker Makes Her Debut

Pileated Female 189
Today, for the first time this season, both Male and Female Pileateds showed up at the back feeders. I do believe she is new, as she was baffled by the baffle for the squirrels, flying and landing below it, rather than above. She sat there a while, and decided to head for the feeders on the tree. The other female from before always landed above the baffle. I heard the male drumming, and then he also showed up, and he fed at the station, while she fed at the tree. By the time I got my stuff set up, he had flown and she had figured out how to get to the rest of the feeders. He was in the front again, hammering on the poor old bird house, once occupied by a lone male house sparrow, who could not understand why no decent female would live under such horrendous conditions. (Also later one summer I had the surprise of a Flying Squirrel in that box)
I did get one decent pic of my female, and am posting it here. She is a beauty.

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