Crossposted to birding new england

Almost every day that I go to work I leave myself a little extra time so I can check out birds on the way.  Almost all of these birds were found on my way to or from work, or while I walked the grounds at break, though a few were found on the weekend while I birded the same general territory or in my yard.  

I will open with a photograph of a pileated woodpecker, one of the best photos I’ve ever taken of one:

                       

All these photographs are clickable, leading you to larger versions, with more details (where they were taken, what day, what equipment I used, etc.)

More about pileated woodpeckers can be found at Cornell

I had been looking for a pileated woodpecker for some time before I finally tracked this one down.  About three weeks ago, I heard it call, but couldn’t track it down.  Then, on Thursday, I spotted this tree, which is fairly clear evidence that a pileated has been in the vicinity

       

Those score marks were fairly fresh (notice the vivid color of the wood– if it had been more than a couple weeks, that wood would have been much duller)

Friday, again during my lunch break, I started walking the grounds and very quickly heard the drumming.  Now, understand, that woodpeckers tend to make a fairly loud sound when they peck at trees, but different types of woodpeckers will vary in terms of both rhythm and volume.  What I heard on Friday was not your usual extremely high-frequency rat-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat that you get from the smaller woodpeckers.  This was much more of a “pop-pop-pop” with some distinction between the beats, and with a much more booming and carrying sound than the usual.

Now, I am a musician: sounds, especially rhythms, resonate strongly with me, so this carried a lot of meaning in ways I have trouble communicating to people who don’t hear things the way I do: but when you understand music and rhythm the way I do, there can be an actual visceral reaction to certain sounds, the same way taste and touch can be for most people, when I am out biding, I can hear a lot of sounds at once and I generally listen for the things that are uncommon: turns of phrase in a song that differentiate between a scarlet tanager and an american robin, for example (the much less common tanager, for example, sounds like a robin with a 3-pack a day habit and an occasional “chick-burr!” thrown in).  So when I heard this sound, it wasn’t just “oh, that’s interesting.”  It was like I went into full attention mode, with something critical that I’d been waiting for just having clicked into place.  I don’t usually put this much effort into finding a specific bird, but I am fascinated by pileated woodpeckers and they are very difficult to photograph well, because they do not like humans at all.  This was particularly special for me.

So I froze in place, scanning for the bird, hoping to get a good look at it.  It hadn’t occurred to me that it was almost directly overhead until a moment later, when I spotted its head pop out from behind a nearby tree:

                               

This one’s a male (you can tell by the red in the moustache stripe; the females only have black there) and it was big (they range from 16″-19″ long, and I’m sure this was the high end of that).  You can also tell it’s a full adult: the adults have the yellow eyes.  Juveniles have brown.

It was partially obscured by other branches and I moved ever so slightly hoping to get a good shot at it.  I thought I was going to lose the bird when I realized my feet had landed on fallen leaves, but the bird didn’t seem to care.  I was able to follow it with my camera for a few more minutes before it flew off, getting this last shot before it took off.

                               

These birds, by the way, are breathtaking in flight.  Their 30″ wingspan makes them fairly easy to identify but they also fly like most woodpeckers: flap flap, glide and dip, flap, flap, glide and dip– no direct linear flight plan for these guys.  Just amazing speed and agility.  One day I’ll capture that, but for now, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got.

Other birds from the last two weeks below:

House Finch

                               

Pine Siskins (I keep expecting them to be gone)

                               


                               

Ring-necked ducks

                               

Common Mergansers

                               


                               

Canada Geese

                               


                               

Great Blue Herons

                               


                               

This eastern Phoebe kept making noises outside my window at work.

                               

Tree swallows are suddenly back again in droves

                               


                               


                               

Song sparrows may be common, but they are still beautiful to me

                               

I have had great luck with eastern bluebirds this year

                               


                               


                               


                               

Downy woodpecker

                               

This red-tailed hawk was hanging out on a piece of farm equipment off the side of the road.  I stopped to take some photos before work

                               

                               

I love watching Northern Mockingbirds

                               

This is not a great photo of a bald eagle, but it was fun to spot

                               

This American Crow was flying around right by my car when I pulled in to work

                               

Black-capped chickadees are all sorts of fun to photograph

                               

Turkey Vulture in flight