Pileated Woodpeckers--A Pair

Success! As I promised in yesterday's comment we returned to the Rail Trail in Amherst early this morning, and saw the pileated woodpeckers. This is a full-length image of the female, with a cut of the male looking out of the hole.

As we approached, we saw one of the birds flying off. I immediately staked out the hole, and soon saw the male peeking out every few minutes. After 12 minutes he flew off--so quickly I caught only a bit of him. Three minutes later the female returned, and 12 seconds later entered the hole (during which time I took the main image; the times are derived from the EXIF data recorded by the camera. Exciting! Stay tuned for more, hopefully in particular when the fledglings (if they do, in a matter of weeks).

The pileated is the largest American woodpecker--16 t0 19 inches long. It is the mascot of our bird club, and as such is at the center of the club T-Shirt with my photographs. The original image used for that shirt is here, and here is a much more recent shot (also of a female from Florida).