Pileated Woodpecker

I've seen them here in WA, but not the numbers I saw when we lived in SE TX, they were all over the place down there. If they start in on your wooden house get it inspected! It's not a good sign, they may be looking for insects. The males will drum for females, it's really annoying when they drum on the metal on you house, but they are neat birds.

They were once thought to be extinct.

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They're amazing, aren't they? And huge! My folks have them in their backyard from time to time- Mn.

I love them. We have the red headed woodpeckers here and the downy ones. Its been decades since I saw a pileated woodpecker. They sure are cool.

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" Not all who wander are lost" J.R. Tolkin

Good for you.

I'd love to see one.

Never had the huge woodpeckers here and with clear cutting, for agriculture, the redheads are gone and most others diminished.

We have downy, hairy, and pileated here. And flickers too. Funny thing is, the biggest ones are the shyest. I miss seeing the red-headed woodpeckers from when I lived in WI.

These are pretty cool birds! I have had the privilege of having them land very near me a time or two when I was well-concealed and deer hunting. They are very shy for the most part. And their call is something to hear as well! Listen at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/p...dpecker/sounds

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Very nice birds, but as Molly mentioned they can be destructive. Power company had to replace one of the poles on our property in part because these birds destroyed it over time.

Exactly like that. We've had quite a lot of red headed, downey and hairy but then the big boy showed up.

My father in law called them raincrows. I would work with him in the garden and he said, listen, the raincrow is calling, that means rain.
I never saw one though. When we moved here I heard the rain crow and I prayed, dear God, please let me see the raincrow. Well, it is the pileated woodpecker.

We've got a lot of them around here. Sometimes they hang on the suet ball 4' from my window.

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Around here the Cuckoos are called the rain crow:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/y...oo/lifehistory

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/b...oo/lifehistory

Quite a few around here - I leave dead trees standing for them and sometimes instead of thinning trees for best growth will sometimes girdle pines for them instead.

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First one I ever saw was a few years ago. I was driving home and thought I saw a duck on the side of a tree in our neighborhood. I realized it wasn't a duck when I drove closer and saw the red, black, etc, and realized ducks don't climb trees, lol.

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"Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

Actually ducks do climb trees. Whistling ducks are tree dwellers though I'll admit the first time I saw it I was really surprised.

Hm...I'll have to try that. I wonder what else they go for?