topic Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers? in Community Chat

Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

golding76 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:01:53 GMT

There is a somewhat large bird in my yard now, and it is pecking at a stump that has been there for decades.

I've seen woodpeckers before in my yard, but this one is VERY large, and its crest is the brightest red.

I'm in Northern Virginia. Is it what is called a Pileated Woodpecker?

Its crest is orangish-red and super bright! Big bird...

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

LilacTree — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:09:58 GMT

All I know is "how much wood would a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker could peck wood."

[Sorry, I couldn't resist.]

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

Sweet Caroline 1 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:10:49 GMT

Goldie76, I am in Birmingham , AL and saw one of these for the first time this season. A large woodpecker that sounded like he had a hatchet instead of a beak. Large, black, with red and white head.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

Venezia — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:13:36 GMT

It sounds like a pileated woodpecker. You can google it for a picture.

Think of "Woody, the Woodpecker"! They make the strangest call, too. We have dozens of woodpeckers around our home, including pileated.

And, yes, they are LOUD.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

ValuSkr — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:13:13 GMT

Yes, it's probably a Pileated. Lucky you - it's a rare treat to see one!

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

golding76 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:13:50 GMT

Yes, Sweet Charlotte, I've never seen one this big. And it is still eating!!!

A male Cardinal sat on a nearby fence, observed and then jumped down within a foot and a half of this big bird. There seems to be a "Red Male Bird" convention going on.

For a minute, I was thinking I had a monster or exotic bird out there. Even a mutant.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

golding76 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:15:56 GMT

Thank you to all who replied.

While I typed my message to Charlotte, there must have been a territorial battle. No birds now.

I just knew this was a special moment.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

QueenDanceALot — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:29:26 GMT

I've had downy woodpeckers at my feeders for a few years now (no Pilated!) and I enjoy seeing them.

Last year I looked out my window and saw a HUGE bird at my suet feeder and he had a red spot on his head and when I looked him up I saw that he was a red-bellied woodpecker (strange how he's named that when his belly isn't red, but the top of his head!).

Anyway, I almost fell over because he just dwarfed the other birds and the suet feeder!

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

blackhole99 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:38:39 GMT

If you live in a log home home like we do, woodpeckers are really bothersome. Thank goodness we never had a big Pilated woodpecker come by, but I can imagine they could do a tremendous amount of damage to a log home.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

golding76 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:51:19 GMT

blackhole99, I think you are so right because I have never seen a woodpecker hammer away as long and as hard as this one did. This guy was like a jackhammer! Your home would be sawdust in one section after this bird pecked away at it.

I hope your log home is spared the fate of this tough-guy sort of woodpecker.

By the way, I am intrigued and charmed by the fact that your home is a log cabin. How cool is that?!

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

riley1 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 17:16:34 GMT

If it's about 12'' it's probably a Pileated Woodpecker.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

cherry — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 17:21:37 GMT

@golding76 my son is a birder ,and he has a website with all of the pictures he takes. I would put a link up ,but I don't want to violate his privacy

He has won prizes for his fotos from, birding magazines and had his work published, in a volume of birds of Maryland, by their university. He has donated his work/fotos to them

I took a peek, and it sounds like its a pilated woodpecker

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

golding76 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:06:39 GMT

How wonderful to have a son who is a birder, cherry.. I respect that you are protecting his privacy but understand your pride in his work.

Riley, this bird was 12 inches in length, and that is why I was confused by it. Not like any woodpecker I'd ever seen before.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

Meowingkitty — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:11:27 GMT

We have a woodpecker that comes buy a few times a year just to annoy us. This is Arizona and this bird is dumb as a stump. He does his noise making on the flashing of our fireplace and he hangs out on the metal light pole across the street and tries to peck it.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

tsavorite — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:19:42 GMT

@Meowingkitty wrote:
We have a woodpecker that comes buy a few times a year just to annoy us. This is Arizona and this bird is dumb as a stump. He does his noise making on the flashing of our fireplace and he hangs out on the metal light pole across the street and tries to peck it.

Oh ya we had his brother at my old house LOL! every morning...about 5am in the summer...that woodpecker would be going like a jack hammer up on my roof top! It was so LOUD...my tiny home just shook from the noise! I had a small baby at the time and of course this bird would startle us both wide awake. A pest control place told us to put tin foil over the thing he was pecking at up there and it worked! He never came back again!

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

golding76 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:27:27 GMT

I had that sort of metal-pecking woodpecker, too, in the past. Was attacking one of my exhausts on the roof.

It happened with such predictability every year that I had to look it up. I read that it is seeking a mate when it strikes the metal surfaces.

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

tsavorite — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:31:58 GMT

@golding76 wrote:
I had that sort of metal-pecking woodpecker, too, in the past. Was attacking one of my exhausts on the roof.

It happened with such predictability every year that I had to look it up. I read that it is seeking a mate when it strikes the metal surfaces.

Oh my yes that is what he was doing! Oh the found memories of this woodpecker!!

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

dex — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:41:24 GMT

We have wood peckers that peck our chimney flashing every year and create a terrible sound throughout our home.They start early in the morning too and it is loud enough to wake the neighbors...wish we could stop them

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

songbird — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:47:50 GMT

@QueenDanceALot wrote:
I've had downy woodpeckers at my feeders for a few years now (no Pilated!) and I enjoy seeing them.

Last year I looked out my window and saw a HUGE bird at my suet feeder and he had a red spot on his head and when I looked him up I saw that he was a red-bellied woodpecker (strange how he's named that when his belly isn't red, but the top of his head!).

Anyway, I almost fell over because he just dwarfed the other birds and the suet feeder!

Here is his call and sound of wood pecking

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-headed_Woodpecker/sounds

Re: Does Anyone Know About Woodpeckers?

tsavorite — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 19:20:42 GMT

@songbird we were told to use foil over it.....my husband went up on the roof and put foil over it and that woodpecker never came back. He didn't like the foil texture/sound I guess and left! It really did work that's all I can recommend. I know how loud it is...it was like a jack hammer going off in my kitchen!