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Pileated Woodpecker War! (1 Viewer)

Tammie

Well-known member
Hi Forum!
So much excitement here today! THREE pileateds!!! I was actually able to stand at my kitchen window a watch a fight between two male pileated woodpeckers! WOW!
One would fly off across the street... 10 seconds later, the other would follow. They'd both land on the same power pole and the antics would begin: screaming at each other, throwing heads back the way woodpeckers do fighting for turf... then they'd fly off somewhere else.
Then one male would come back to where the female was calmly hammering on a tree. Then the interloper would return and it would start all over again.
At the end, I saw the two males actually get together on one tree. The first male chased the second down the tree to the ground where I lost sight of them. Shortly thereafter, I saw the one male and female take off together toward the trees on the edge of my backyard. Never did see the other male again. Heard one good loud call from out back a while ago but haven't seen them since.
Now THAT added some excitement to my day!! Fabulous!! :)Gotta love spring.... I've been seeing the pair of pileateds on an almost daily basis for a few weeks now but this is the first time I realized that there was a third in the mix!!
 
Man, i wanna see one!

What type of habitat do you have there?
My family and I live in a combination suburb/wetland/grassland/woodland habitat, which explains the variety of birds we get. My dad actually saw a Pileated Woodie in our yard once, but that was probably back in January. We haven't seen a pileated woodpecker since.

When my dad and/or I go to the pond (where the GBH live), sometimes we can hear a pileated jackhammering away, but we never could see them. We're still hoping to see one back in our yard.

Hopefully, they come back soon.
 
Tammie, sounds like you had a great day for watching the mating game on your woodpeckers. what sort of weather are you getting now, do you get rid of the snow altogether? just curious.
bert.
 
It hailed last night... in New York in April!?!?!?!?

The snow's gone here, but it's frigid out right now. The gauge says 43, but it feels like 0 (Fahrenheit of course!). Very, very windy....
 
gthang said:
Man, i wanna see one!

What type of habitat do you have there?
My family and I live in a combination suburb/wetland/grassland/woodland habitat, which explains the variety of birds we get. My dad actually saw a Pileated Woodie in our yard once, but that was probably back in January. We haven't seen a pileated woodpecker since.
Hi,
We have a lot of fairly old growth forest around the house. My back yard is surrounded by 50 foot jack pine and spruce trees... the front has 50 foot poplars. The pileateds have been working on all of them!
I knew for years that we had two pileateds in the neighborhood but I only ever see them together in the spring. This is the first time I've seen a third one here. I have been seeing an average of 3 or 4 pileateds whenever we go to town (an hour away) for the past month or so. I've seen more pileateds in the past month than I have in the past 3 years!! :)
 
bert said:
Tammie, sounds like you had a great day for watching the mating game on your woodpeckers. what sort of weather are you getting now, do you get rid of the snow altogether? just curious.
bert.
Hi Bert,
I definitely had a ball watching these antics yesterday and hope they'll repeat today! :)
The weather now is typical April.... one day, it's sunny and warm & melting, the next it's bitter cold and snowing and blowing. Yesterday morning was -18C and breezy..... this morning is around the zero C mark and drizzling rain! The snow is melting evvvveeerrr sooooo sslllooowwwwwwllyy..... It seems to be taking longer than usual this year.
Yes, we do get completely rid of the snow which should be by the end of this month, for the most of it. Our summers here can be scorchers, like last year. I could do without the forest fire hazards that go with it tho', also like last year! :(
 
Tammie.....loved the antics of the pileates, i have one around the house and plenty of the red-bellies and downey's. That story was too cool!!!!!!!!!!
 
OK, we have bunches and bunches and bunches and bunches and bunches........................of old trees (and new) around my area, it's kind of rural, we live on a paved street, and at the dead end is a dirt driveway, not even used, that leads to a wealth of environments, from ponds to marshes/swamps to huge coniferous forests. To get to the forest, you have to cross the swamp first, which is pretty easy especially when you don't have a Canon 10D wrapped around your neck, and no dog either. There is also a beautiful stream/creek that is reminiscent of creeks/streams in the Catskill Mountains.

Beautiful area, I tell you. but the one time we were down there to see birds, nothing was moving under all the trees.

Regarding the coniferous forest,I said that because you're walking under non-coniferous and about a few hundred yards deep into the territory (from the start of the dirt driveway), You're still walking, and you look up and everything just got dark... (Quick Question: Conifers have cones, right?)
 
peligirl said:
Tammie.....loved the antics of the pileates, i have one around the house and plenty of the red-bellies and downey's. That story was too cool!!!!!!!!!!
Hi!
I also have lots of downies and hairies hanging around daily (at least 3 of each that I'm certain of) and the odd three toed woodpecker but I've never seen a red bellied before.

I have a great time with the woodpeckers... I think they are absolutely fascinating birds.... but the pileateds are truly amazing. To watch them in the wild like that yesterday just blew me away! Wish I could have gotten some photos but if I had tried that, I would have missed all the excitement! ;)
 
We also get Dairy Woodpeckers!

J/K!

We get these woodies where we live: Pileated (1 sighting, by my dad); Red-Bellied (see them every day); Downy (see almost every day); Hairy (not sure if there are any around here, but I have a picture I took of one at my feeder); and Red-Headed (Never seen one yet, hoping to attract one if I can).

5 birds, out of those three have been seen by me, and 3 by my dad, making four total. I have to see the Pileated and Red-Headed, Dad has to see the Hairy and Red-Headed.
 
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