Today we have a video and a couple of photos from a couple of readers. (All readers’ comments and IDs are indented; click photos to enlarge them.)
The video below comes from Avi Burstein, who sent this information:
I just caught this footage outside my home in the Catskills of a woodpecker creating a nest. Thought you’d enjoy it. Feel free to share it with your readers. I was inside my home while filming so no audio.
I believe this is a pileated woodpecker, (Dryocopus pileatus).
From Bryan Lepore:
Dear PCC(E) – the early morning walk revealed a breathtaking decoration of hoarfrost on a lilac (Syringa vulgaris). It brought to mind the absolute zero discussion. I picked out this particular detail for a more artistic interpretation. Perhaps a story can be invented for it by the beholder:
Some plants from Hawaii by Emilio d’Alise. I’m not sure, nor is he, whether these are native or introduced, nor do we have the species or IDs (His note on our first batch was “here are a bunch of flowers photos from when I lived in Hawaiʻi.”) Just enjoy the beauty:
On January 15 I published a few photos by Christopher Moss of a pair of squirrels fighting over a feeder full of sunflower seeds. They achieved a temporary truce, but then. . .
Here are the remaining pictures of the squirrels learning to tolerate each other. Their truce didn’t last long, as they were back to fighting noisily yesterday.
Excellent, as always. I loved the way the woodpecker moved his head around appraising his progress between assaults on the tree.
Great set!
The palm-like one is magnificently elegant!
Also – big PW fan here – amazing animal to see out and about.
Really lovely photos and video. The woodpecker must go through SO MUCH WORK to build a nest. Wow!
The yellow flower is Plumeria, aka Frangipani, native to Mexico, central America and the Caribbean.
The orange flower below it looks like a double Hibiscus.
Definitely a Pileated Woodpecker. And a male, based on the extent of the red crest and the red flash I think I saw on the side of his face. Those beaks are pretty efficient at removing wood!
Fun stuff, thanks for sharing these!
That’s an impressive zoom on the woodpecker video! I’m not sure that it’s necessarily excavating a nest hole, as it seems rather early in the year. Pileated woodpeckers can make huge holes when simply feeding. I think it is a male but it’s hard to tell for sure from the angle. Differences between the sexes are somewhat subtle, with the male having a more extensively red crest, particularly on the forehead and a red rather than a black “moustache”.
Thanks too for the other photos. The ones from Hawaii are especially beautiful.
Very nice. I don’t think cacti are native to Hawaii, but I am far from knowledgeable on that.
Nice assortment today. Gorgeous flowers!
Nice photos, and wonderful Pilkeated Woodpecker! All the flowers are non-natives of Hawaii.
“Pilkeated”->”Pileated”