by Bill Leutz

This morning, while I was taking my dog for a walk, I heard an unusual clucking sound and discovered this pair of Pileated Woodpeckers chasing each other around an oak tree. They are appear to be two females. It was just a chance encounter made interesting by the relatively surprising nature of the experience. They are not listed as being particularly rare, but it is unusual to seem them out of the deeper forests. Unfortunately they wouldn’t wait to pose for my Nikon, which was back at the house, so I had to be satisfied with this somewhat fuzzy, iPhone enlargement. Over the years, the usual varieties of woodpeckers have shown up at my feeders, both here and in Oklahoma, but I think these are the first Pileated Woodpeckers I have seen, so to have two at once was a treat for me.

 

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