Pileated, Sapsuckers and other Woodpeckers

This guy landed on a log quite close to me this afternoon, posed, and gave me the chance to finally get a reasonable photo of a Hairy Woodpecker. Out of luck with the little Downy Woodpecker - maybe next time? Happy Feathery Friday, everyone! (Note to self: I used a horizontal version of this image for my 2008 calendar).

Quite a striking bird, but not seen all that often.

I've seen a number of these huge, "prehistoric-looking " birds this year. In fact, I followed one from tree to tree this afternoon and took a few seconds of video of it banging away for insects.

This is a male because it has a red chin and throat. These woodpeckers drill a series of small, square wells in a tree trunk, making quite a perfect pattern of lined-up "holes". Then they lap up the sap (and insects) from these square wells with their fringed tongue.

I was surprised to see this Hairy Woodpecker eating one of the cubes of bread that someone had placed in various trees on the way down into Weaselhead. I never pictured a Hairy Woodpecker eating bread.

Another in the series of photos I took of this Red-naped Sapsucker in a local park on 23rd June 2005. I rarely get to see one of these attractive birds, so I was really lucky that afternoon.

This is the largest of our woodpeckers. Often, the large rectangular holes in tree trunks (to look for carpenter ants and beetles) is the only sign that there is a Pileated Woodpecker in the area. They are quite prehistoric in appearance.

This is a Pileated Woodpecker that I followed yesterday afternoon in one of my favourite parks. After pecking and banging at one tree, it would move to another and repeat the noisy process and then move to a new tree. They are difficult to photograph as the head usually comes out a little blurry because of the fast, continuous movement. Really, a stunning bird. I wonder how they don't get headaches! Of course, this is the bird on which the cartoon character, Woody Woodpecker, was based.