Loud woodpecker this morning!

[Mus408]

While walking the dog this morning along the woods trail I heard what sounded like somebody beating on one of those hollowed out log drums. Stopped and looked up through the trees and spotted what looked like a black colored bird with white head and saw him hammering away.
The limb he was on was long and looked partially dead.

From the sound you wouldn't think a woodpecker could make that loud and deep a noise!

 

[eveled]

I cannot imagine beating my nose into a piece of wood at such a rapid rate. They are amazing.

 

[Bob Wright]

I stood and watched a pileated woodpecker one time as he worked on a branch. He was no so machine gun fast, but he sure made chips fly!

Bob Wright

 

[Colonialgirl]

I put bird seed on my back porch railing and a Suet Block; I get Blue Birds, Cardinals, a slightly yellow bird of some type (haven't looked it up) AND a Red Headed Woodpecker that makes frequent visits to eat and fly off with a mouth full of the suet block seeds (once in a while I get the female too); For a while we were getting FLOCKS of what I think are "Carolina Sparrows" of some kind but they have disappeared with the warmer weather up North. What I hate are the grey PIGS called DOVES who suck the seeds like vacuum cleaners.
Score this month:
1 Dead Squirrel
1 Possible dead squirrel

 

[contender]

That was a pileated woodpecker at work. Big red crest, and it can make noise as it hammers out the bugs! Locally, the carpenter bees suffer from them, as does any wood the bees have drilled into.

 

[GP100]

Shoot it!

That'll shut him up..

 

[SamV]

As far as I know, it is generally illegal to kill woodpeckers.
I think they are great fun to watch, but they can be noisy. I had one hammer away where the metal flue liner came out of the chimney The sound would travel through the heating system. I was told that when they hammer for loud noise instead of pecking searching for food, that it is part of mating.
I would stand under the chimney and give him a quick spritz from the hose. It only took a couple of times before he moved on.

 

[GP100]

I was just kidding..

Or was I? (Evil laugh)

 

[Fox Mike]

Couple of these hanging around. Notice the BIG grub in his/her mouth. Old rotten stump feeding hole. I had a Flicka at the feeder just a couple days ago. Don't see them oftem

 

[Doc Holliday]

Had one of them wake me up every morning last month, just outside my window. Oh joy.

 

[graygun]

bass drummer

 

[toysoldier]

As a city boy just moved to the country, I was strolling through the woods near my home when the most god-awful repeated scream scared the bejesus out of me. Turned out to be a pilated woodpecker. :shock:

 

[GP100]

As a city boy just moved to the country, I was strolling through the woods near my home when the most god-awful repeated scream scared the bejesus out of me. Turned out to be a pilated woodpecker. :shock:

You think that's bad? Try waking up to a screeching Owl at 2:30am.. The sound is piercing.. :shock:

 

[#1rugerman]

I had one that would drum on my heater vent pipe at daylight every morning, slingshot + a pinch of #4 lead shot showed him the error of his ways.

 

[exavid]

We used to have a good sized gum tree in the front of our current house. Every year that poor tree would be attacked by sapsuckers, they really drill into the tree, mostly where the branches join the trunk. Eventually I took that tree down, it was about 35-40 feet tall and too close to the house to make me feel good about it. I do kinda miss hearing those birds rapping and tapping on it though. I don't miss a couple real dumb ones who used to try to drill holes in our downspouts though.

 

[BearBio]

Our flicker population is growing. Four in our neighborhood now.

 

[steveodtw]

I watched a Pileated woodpecker at work on morning from a tree stand. They don't so much rat-atat-tat as WHAM! They cock their head back and blast, and the bark goes flying. It's a wonder they don't scramble their bird brains. The bark falling down on the leaves 20 ft. below turned out to be the deer I thought was coming in. The smaller ones seem to like satellite dishes for their own steel-drum band.