For the birds

[altivo]

Yesterday when I went to get Tess from the pasture I noticed several birds making a sound I've been wondering about lately. Vaguely woodpeckerish, but a long sequence of repeated chirps or squawks that was almost machinegunlike in its regularity. I froze and started looking for the source.

Sure enough, they were woodpecker kin. Yellow-shafted flickers, to be precise. These are large birds (~10 in. long) that nest in cavities and eat a variety of foods including both insects and fruits. We've seen one at the feeders occasionally, and I've seen mated pairs nesting a few times in my life. Yesterday there were no less than five of them in the top of a black walnut tree, apparently squabbling over access to something on the trunk. Too high for a nest hole, because the branch they were on was only a couple of inches thick, so I assume it was something edible. They were quite noisy and pushy about it. While this fuss was going on, a red-headed woodpecker flew past, within a yard or so of the spot, completely oblivious to the argument.

We don't see either species too often here. Three other woodpeckers are common: the downy, the hairy, and the red-bellied. Two more are possible, though I've not seen them here: the yellow-bellied sapsucker and the pileated woodpecker.

Audubon spring bird census coming up May 9 I think.

Comments

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Well observed mon ami.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

We see the red-headed woodpeckers here all the time. It always surprises me just how large they can be with their wings fully spread.

This morning around 5am I stumbled into the kitchen to make coffee. The weather has been nice so all the windows were open all night. When I turned on the kitchen light I woke up a bird that had apparently gone to sleep in the bushes right in front of the kitchen window. The racket it proceeded to make just about made me jump out of my skin! Easy enough to do since I'd been awake for all of 90 seconds and that's all I'm usually wearing when wandering through the house at that hour...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm? Do you really mean red-headed woodpeckers or do you mean pileated? Where you live, pileated should be fairly easy to find and yes, they are huge.

The red-headed woodpecker is only robin-sized and has no crest. Its head is covered by a red hood that extends down over the neck both front and back. The body and wings are solid black except for a striking white patch above the rump that is only visible during flight, and the breast is white. Very formal looking like an academic or a red-haired guy in a tux.

The pileated woodpecker is quite large, the largest woodpecker in North America unless you think ivory bills still live in some remote location. The wingspan can exceed 24 inches, the body and wings are mottled and barred white, brown, and black, and the head has a distinctive standing, pointed red crest on it, like Woody Woodpecker.

Both like swampy areas and standing dead trees.

See photos of the usual culprits here.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Lately I've been paying more detailed attention to bird sounds, rather than just visual sitings, so it's good to get a positive ident on something I've been hearing.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the photo link! It's definitely the pileated woodpeckers I keep seeing. Bloody huge when it comes swooping out of the trees. There's a small river nearby (less than 1/2 a mile) and no lack of standing dead trees thanks to the pine beetle infestation that swept through the area about 10 years ago.

[bladehorse.livejournal.com]

On the note of woodpeckeres.. Is there a way to deter them other than noise? We apperantly had a swarm attack the east wall of the house, and now it looks like swiss cheese in less than 1 year.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No idea. We've had similar problems with them attacking the eaves.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

What's all this knocking ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Technically it's called "drumming" but there really is a lot of it going on, especially at dawn.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I didn't think you were the type to live in an early knocking shop.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Definitely not.