Tail Balance

I've watched the Pileated birds hop up and down the side of a tree trunk many times, but never notice how much they use their tails for balance. Here on the suit cages, it was a much more precarious balance and it became obvious how essential that tail is to their vertical position.

While eating breakfast, my dogs got my attention... bark, bark, bark... they had a pileated treed! Ha! The bird couldn't care less about the nuisance below. But lucky me, the tree he was on was only 12 feet from my window! Yea, indoor blip! Got my camera, called the dogs in and the bird remained! Opened the window and the bird remained! Raised my camera and he flew away... What is it about a camera that animals distrust?

Not all was lost, I realized that there were two pileateds on the neighbors feeder! Blew my nose, slipped on boots, covered my camera with a towel (snowing) and inched outside closer and closer.

Well, one flew away (obviously) and this was as close as I could get today. Back inside and back to bed. This sure is a crazy cold. I keep expecting to be better in the morning and keep getting worse. Fever today... And with that, this shot will have to do.

Decent large.