Woodpecker edition

It has been a thrilling week. For the past several days I’ve heard or seen a Pileated Woodpecker in the pond’s environs. Usually they’ve made rare appearances around the pond, although some have told me there are plenty in the woods between Seagroves Park and Old Raleigh Road.

The Pileated Woodpeckers’ sudden appearance has helped me in my numeric goals. Early last week I was thinking that I had made one of my records by seeing all five common woodpeckers in a single day (Downy, Red-bellied, Pileated, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Northern Flicker) when I realized that I had forgotten one: the Downy’s larger cousin, the Hairy Woodpecker.

Not to worry, just a few days later I saw a Hairy Woodpecker and all the remaining five, making it all six common species.

There is a seventh species, the Red-headed Woodpecker, but I haven’t seen one around the pond in a number of years. (If you do want to see one, there’s quite a colony by the boat ramp at the Jordan Lake dam.)

I don’t have pictures of all the species I saw on the six-woodpecker day (that’ll be my next goal), but it was nice to get a Pileated Woodpecker and a Northern Flicker in the same frame (despite the branches obscuring the Flicker).

They were both eagerly snacking on the berries in the woods around them. The Pileated (in this case a male) put on some acrobatic feats while feeding.

I really should say “7 winter species” because the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is with us only from October through March. This juvenile came surprisingly close to me.

Speaking of close-by, this Downy also came quite near, on the six-woodpecker day.

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