November 9, 2011

Pileated Woodpecker (aka: Woody)

I've mentioned before that I see a lot of amazing winged creatures along Fruitville Road, a busy 2-lane road. As I was cruising along in heavy traffic last week, a splash of red caught my eye. Actually, two splashes of red --- on a utility pole. After turning around, parking and stalking, I saw this eyeball peering at me. And, then, the creature cautiously poked its cute little red head out to see what was going on.
SDP 11-9-11
This is a male pileated woodpecker. The males, I've learned from my trusty Birds of Florida field guide, have an extra red stripe along their jawline. While he was peering out, his mate swooped in from seemingly nowhere... 
SDP  11-9-11b
...and poked her head in to see how things were going at the homestead. Clinging to the side of the pole... 
SDP  11-9-11c
...she seemed to ponder her options.  (Or perhaps she was shocked at what she had seen inside: 'He could at least tidy up while I'm away hunting for ants.')  I think Mr. Woody Woodpecker warned the Mrs. about the creature outside with the really long beak (aka: photographer) and shooed her away, because she suddenly left and he ducked inside. ('No more photos, please.  Thank you...and, good day!')  Now, whenever I see a gaping hole in a utility pole I can't help but wonder what's going on in there.  (My cartoon brain seems to shift into overdrive seeing pileated woodpeckers.)   What a fun encounter!  By the way, tomorrow we'll return to the Chalk Festival, as promised.

8 comments:

cieldequimper said...

Brilliant! I had missed yesterday's post, now I'm almost glad I did!

Lorraine said...

What a great find! Woodpeckers are such striking looking birds. Love that red! These are big ones. We had a smaller version pecking on our house last week. We kept hearing knocking. Hubby went out to investigate and saw the woodpecker fly away. Thank goodness he didn't return because I would think that maybe we had termites. BTW, love yesterday's picture too!

Kathy said...

My goodness, we should start calling you Eagle Eye. Spotting a little bird in a hole high up on a utility pole while maneuvering down a two-lane road is pretty amazing! Great shots!

Ernie said...

Awesome!

Anonymous said...

My goal is to see these in my backyard but they have not been here since we moved in 1962. I have seen them across the street and photographed them in an old tree but that is as close as it got. It was a male and had the red stripe below the eye as you suggested.

Lois said...

I see these woodpeckers in my backyard sometimes. They are beautiful. You really got some fantastic pictures of them!

Jack said...

FANTASTIC, SRQ. Time to speak with management about that long overdue raise. Your photographs are wonderful, as is your text. The missus' comment about the mess inside got a loud belly laugh from me.

RedPat said...

Fabulous shots! How magical to see this.