Pileated Woodpecker!

We drove nearly an hour inland, east of Fort Myers Beach this morning, to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, which is "home to the largest remaining stand of old growth Bald Cypress forest in North America."

It is a magnificent refuge, with a boardwalk mostly through a swamp, with cypresses at one's shoulders--some of of them 500 to 600 years old. Unfortunately, birds were few and far between. Marylee wandered more and saw a few more species. I stayed with potential photo-0ps, above all this Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus),which spent a good twenty minutes high above me (fifteen yards/meters) hammering vigorously at the bark of a large tree. There were always leaves and thin branches between me and the bird (those here are minimal), and finally I got this shot--as close as any I have of the bird (the head was almost never in profile). The bird is female; a male would have a red forehead and a red "moustache."

By the way, if you're uncertain how to pronounce it, you're not alone: You can say it PIE-liated, or PILL-liated. It is the largest North American woodpecker, at 16-19 inches (40-50 cm). It is similar to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which is almost certainly extinct.