Any birdwatchers on board?

[Trey45]

I kept hearing a slow hammering really close so I went out to investigate.
I saw this woodpecker hammering away at a utility pole, is that his mate there too?
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He's got quite a hole opened up on that pole!

[cdet69]

Appears to be so. it is a female of the same species. Just odd they are eating from a pressure treated pole.

[williamwaco]

Oh WOW.

Fantastic. I haven't seen one of those in 50 years.

Thanks

[Philngruvy]

The bird on the right is a female pileated woodpecker. The lower bird is a common flicker. Not sure of the sex because i cannot see the side of the face which is where the distinguishing marks are.

[Trey45]

Thanks Phil! I thought it was a husband and wife woodpecker utility pole demolition team.

[Junior1942]

She will severly weaken that pole.

[Philngruvy]

She will severly weaken that pole.

It looks like a new pole so it will take a while, but yes, they do destroy utility poles and trees causing much cost to the people. An interesting factoid about the woodpeckers is that they will drill many holes in the trees, often in symetrical rows, for the purpose of encouraging insects to lay eggs in the holes and the woodpeckers come back when the larvae are growing large, filling the holes with a protein rich meal for the woodpecker.

[Philngruvy]

Thanks Phil! I thought it was a husband and wife woodpecker utility pole demolition team.
It is common in the bird world for the male to be brightly colored and the female to be drably camoflaged. However, the woodpeckers, both male and female are very similar in coloration. The male pileated would have a red stripe just behind the lower mandible. Also, the red crest extends all the way to the beak. With the flickers, the male would have a black stripe behind the lower mandible. I cannot clearly see that area in the op photo, so I am uncertain of the sex of the individual.

[waksupi]

Pileated, and flicker. Flickers have done tens of thousand worth of damage to one of the local schools, and other buildings. Pileated stick to trees and poles, in my experience. Flickers seem to mysteriously disappear around my cabin, but the big woodpeckers are welcome any time.

[runfiverun]

wood pecker breast meat tastes like steak when cooked on a stick over an open camp fire.
just saying...

[dagger dog]

Early spring in my home area starts the sap running in the sugar maples, which in turn lures the migrating sap suckers. They will drill small holes arranged in neat rows around the tree, then return later to sip on the sweet sap that oozes in the holes.

I have seen maples that look like their trunks are alive, seeming to pulse and flex when looking at them from a distance, but upon closer inspection are actually "wearing" a coat of honey bees which have been drawn to the nectar of the yellow belly's sap wells.

[edler7]

I see a hairy chested nutscratcher almost every morning somewhere around my house.

[41 mag fan]

wood pecker breast meat tastes like steak when cooked on a stick over an open camp fire.
just saying...

hmmm...they taste like frog legs if you marinade them in vinegar for a day then cook them in a rotisserie

[uscra112]

Third vote for pileated and flicker. I get flickers all the time, even at the feeder in winter, but have only seen the pileated when visiting in Virginia.

[Shepherd2]

Yep, pileated and flicker. I see flickers all the time and pileated quite often.

[Stephen Cohen]

I had to have a second look at that red headed one, thought it was our prime minister Julia.

[winelover]

Last spring, I watched a mated pair of pileateds taking turns, peck out a baseball size hole and excavate a cavity that was deeper than they were tall. Took them about a month to set up housekeeping. They are quite common here, in northern Arkansas, and stay all winter long. Have even seen them on the suet feeder, out back. They have a very distinctive call. Wife calls them monkey birds , because of it.

Winelover

[Freightman]

We even have some here and also the flicker's are quit common, they like my pecans and put a hole in and empty the shell still intact, strange.

[William Yanda]

I see a hairy chested nutscratcher almost every morning somewhere around my house.

LOL
Would that "somewhere" be a mirror or any other reflective surface?

[Kraschenbirn]

Pic kinda looks like my backyard on most mornings...'cept we've got Red-Bellied (very similar to the Common Flicker) and Downey Woodpeckers, often taking turns feeding off the same suet block.

Bill

[blackthorn]

We have a pair of Pilated that show up once in awhile, four Downies and many Flickas around here. They all come in for the suet blocks we put out along with a flock of Magpies and a flock of Junkos and some Chicadees. We have a small Ahs tree that had a bumper crop of berries last fall. About a month and a half ago about a hundred Cedar wax wings showed up and they stripped that tree of berries in less than an hour!

[DLCTEX]

When I lived In Louisiana I saw many poles with galvanized screen to protect them from woodpeckers. Here Flickers do damage to many houses and buildings. I once had to take one out that persisted pecking on my house at the crack of dawn. (Statute of limitations long since expired).

[WILCO]

Any birdwatchers on board?

Yep. I'm an amateur bird watcher. I started a thread some time ago about my missing Cardinal. Who's been back a few times by the way. I've also seen his mate.

[fouronesix]

I remember the Cardinal thread. Good to hear about the return!
Used to be a bird type but now just watch em and enjoy em.

[dagger dog]

They have a very distinctive call.Winelover


Thats the "Woody Wood pecker" call ! Walter Lantz's( I think that's his name) the creator of Woody, wife did the vocals for the cartoon.

[Ed Barrett]

Woodpeckers around here will pick up a sunflower seed and take it to a tree or phone pole, they will force into a crack and then pick at it to get at the kernel. It looks like they are pecking on the pole.

[shooter2]

We have them often in this area. Last summer there was a mama that would gorge herself on the bluebird pudding, then fly to a nearby tree to feed her two babies. That went on for a couple weeks.

[winelover]

Here's a picture of one hanging on the suet feeder this AM.

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Winelover

[bob208]

nothing wakes you up like a flicker hammering on the tin roof. a half hour before the alarm goes off.