Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Photographer Gregg Thompson had a stroke of good fortune. He wrote:
In late September, I noticed a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers on this tree trunk. It was too late in the year for them to have any chicks, and after I read a bit, I decided this was a roosting tree. It could have been a nesting site at one time, I guess.
It seems to have been constructed in the rotted center core of an otherwise healthy looking tree. I would guess the lower hole is connected to the upper one. The female was using the upper hole.
Looking at the forest around them, I can see that they have quite a few opportunities for roosting cavities. But for my purpose – photography – most of them were pretty high up in the tree. This site has the benefit of being right at my height on a steep hillside. It is really dark with all of the foliage still being on the trees.
Anyway, I went quite a few times, hoping to catch them in their roosting holes. So far, I've seen only one at a time in a hole, so I'm not sure if they both use the same hole, different holes, or even different holes on separate trees. I think they have multiple roosting trees, as they don't seem to use the same holes every night.
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The Red-headed Woodpecker excavates cavities, too. Learn more about this bird and about how leaving a snag benefits birds and other wildlife:
Saving Snags for Red-headed Woodpeckers
