What a lucky capture this was. I had left the sunroom Sunday afternoon to go to the kitchen to make some coffee. A few minutes later I barely heard my husband whisper, 'Carletta, woodpecker.' I walked into the sunroom and looked at the bird feeder and saw nothing. I looked at him and he just lowered his head nodding toward the ground. I literally gasped as I grabbed the camera. I quickly clicked off about 15 shots in the less than one minute she hung around. You can tell by the absense of a red stripe on the cheek that this is a female. I have heard and seen a couple at a distance. This was the first time this season I've seen one this close to the house and close enough even to attempt a photo.
About six hours later as I was sitting at my computer I saw something fly by the sunroom window. My mind barely registered the flash of black and red before I grabbed my camera and went to my living room window. Sure enough I spotted him. He was too far away for a decent shot so this one through a very dirty window was the best I could do. If you enlarge the image you'll notice the red stripe on the cheek signifying the male pileated.
Another far out of reach shot was the wild turkey we spotted one day on our way to do errands. This photo has been cropped considerably but you can see he was in the field strutting his business. There were four hens to the right just out of the camera's lens that he was trying to impress.
Let me apologize for the barely there shots this week; but I want to share one more. Don't look too quickly at the blurred geese and miss those tiny little furry goslings in the foreground. We had gone for a country drive and when I saw the geese in a field I asked my hubby to stop knowing they were too far away but I had a fence photo in mind. That's when I saw the little balls of fur and zoomed in as far as I could. Look closely and you'll see six of them. Mom and Dad sure have their work cut out for them.
Linking to
Wild Bird Wednesday.
36 comments:
i LOVE spotting the pileateds! we have a pair here that i hear more than i see! great shots! would love to see wild turkeys, too. and for that matter, canadian geese and goslings! sheesh!
Great shots of the pileated! I have only ever seen them once and I did not get a photo. They flew away too quick.
How Thrilling!!!!
Lovely phost for the theme!
Any day I see (and especially photograph) a Pileated is a great day for me! Very nice shots.
That is exciting!! I think I would have been thrilled myself! Loving the Pileated Woodpecker!
A great series of photos. Its very special to have that Woodpecker come so close.
How great to have the pilated Woodpecker so near your house! Nice photos too! And those little goslings are so sweet! Greetings Pia
you got great shots. :) Congats to that. She looks great. As we don´t have them the difference to the genders was new to me.
The Pileated is a cool visitor, great shots, Carletta. And I love the cute gooslings. Great post!
Wonderful post Carletta -- honestly you see the most fabulous birds right out of your window. I love the pileated woodpecker...I saw one once this season here in our park...the one time I went for a walk without my camera of course.
Oh wow - I love that little dash of bright red on her head!
Absolutely fabulous shots - I had a male pileated woodpecker on my feeder one time - too photos as long as he hung around - what a thrill it was. Thanks for all the bird pictures.
Absolutely fabulous Carletta!! I've only seen a Pileated once, and had no camera.
I did have to do a double take on the little chicks in that last shot. Great pictures of the woodpecker - very good job.
Pileated are awesome birds. They seem to be sporadic. Sometimes I see them often and then I go a couple of years and I don't see them. They are quite confiding birds and don't fly off readily. They will tolerate you. You are getting lots of chances for interesting shots.
I think these are all neat photos. You did a great job of capturing the female pileated woodpecker. The goslings are cute.
Wonderful shots. I love the woodpecker.
Very nice shots Carletta. I think I saw a woodpecker just like that one when we were driving home a week or so ago.
The Woodpecker is one of my favourite birds - I have been lucky enough to see the PW on a couple of trips to the USA, I could not get over how big they were (are!)
Nice pictures.
Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW
Stewart M - Melbourne
Great series!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
Have not seen this type of woodpecker before! Thank you for the sweet treat. They are gorgeous photos!
Excellent...love the woodpecker that is at the base of the tree...that image is so well composed.
What delights you had in store this week Carletta, from the spectacular pair of woodpeckers to those fluffy little gosling. Really nice to see.
Beautiful series of photos.
Great that you could as well shoot the woodpecker.
This species is not common in the Netherlands.
Regards, Irma
I can just imagine how excited you were to see this fella! The pileated is such an elusive bird--at least around here. I hear them all the time, but have never seen one. These are great captures! I am thoroughly impressed.
I'm your newest follower, btw. The rain has delayed our trip to New Orleans for an hour, so it gave me an opportunity to come here and follow. :)
Fine shots of this beautiful woodpecker. I'm sure I would have missed the goslings if you hadn't pointed them out. Thanks.
How exciting to be able to get these images of the Pileated! We've seen a couple this spring, but have not been able to get good images. Yours are fantastic!
~Lindy
Awesome! I've never seen this type of woodpecker before. They look like they are rather large birds (yes?) - Congrats on the great shots of both.
Loved those little goslings too.
Mom & Dad plus six... Yea!! That's the family I came from! I'm the oldest of six.
How exciting to see and photograph a Pileated Woodpecker!
Nice photos of all the birds. I haven't seen that type of woodpecker yet.
What a gorgeous woodpecker! I love spotting turkey's too. There are tons around here.
You are definitely a "sharpshooter" this week Carletta. I'm not so interested in the perfect photo--more a chance to see birds that are not familiar to me.
great shots today--I love the wood pecker shots
I LOVE those pileated woodpecker shots...and those little goslings are adorable.
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