Walking through the neighborhood yesterday I found this pair of Pileated Woodpeckers looking for food on a large Douglas Fir tree. I stood there staring for a minute and then remembered I had my camera with me!
Look at the one that is higher up on the tree. See the red mark on its face? Doesn’t it look like its red crest is bigger than the other’s? It is the male.
According to The Sibley Guide to Birds of Western North America, Pileated Woodpeckers love to eat carpenter ants. I hope for this homeowner’s sake they found something else!
Below is a video I took. Look for the “synchronized pecking”.
Great Job Mike..Pics/Video awesome. I have a pair of these near my house but can’t get with 60 yards of them for pics. Maybe someday I’ll be able to get some nice shots like these. Thanks for sharing.
Pileated woodpeckers are such prehistoric looking birds! Nice video! I also shot a close-up video of a male pileated woodpecker, excavating a hole in a tree:
http://ecostrides.com/2010/10/30/hello-mr-pileated-woodpecker/
Hi Mike, A great pair! I specially enjoyed the video!
Nice video! I’ve never seen two of them working so closely together.. And I like how you can hear tons of birds in the background.
We had a carpenter ant infestation once when we owned a home in Oregon. I wonder where those guys were then? They’re beautiful.
wow! great shots as usual. I’ve only seen these guys (or gals) at the north end of Lake Chelan above Stehekin and on James Island in the San Juans. I’ve heard one, though, in Carkeek Park near my north Seattle home. I am curious as to where you live? You must be outside the city environs? neighborhood? I gew up outside Troutdale back when it was mostly berry fields and nurseries and not subdivisions and such. We saw cool things but nothing like you see. Or maybe we just weren’t looking.
We live in West Linn, south of Portland. Lots of parks and woods and water!