One of the most interesting sounds to float in the door on this cool mornings is the call of the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). Once you hear the loud raucous laugh of a Pileated you will never mistake it for another bird. It is another of those sounds that calls forth memories from our ancestral past.

It has only been in the last decade that I have even glimpsed one around our house. But once seen, it is a bird that impresses you with its beauty. For the last three or four years, most mornings include the call…Floating up from the woods along the bayou behind the house. I have to assume a pair has taken up residence back there behind the house. Since they do not migrate and stay in a territory year round, it’s nice to have them as new neighbors.

I wish I could post a photo, but, so far I have never been able to capture a shot. It has only been on a couple of occasions that I have even been able to put binoculars on one. so here is a picture from Wikipedia…

I hope they stay around. Now that I have become accustomed to them being here…Not having them around would be a great loss…

On another woodpecker note…We watched a starling fight with a pair of what I think are ladder-backed woodpeckers. The starling hung out in an old woodpecker hole just above the one the woodpeckers had picked as a nest until they would leave. Then she would sneak in and lay claim to the hole.  I don’t know if she was trying to lay an egg for them to raise or not…But she managed to convince them to find another hole.