Sightings of the resident Pileated Woodpecker(s) at the cottage this year have been few and far between, thanks to Hydro One decimating the tree population along the Point. But finally last week from inside the cottage I glimpsed the male flying in to land on a pine tree along the shore.
So off I went in search of him as of course he was gone by the time I got outside, but I soon re-found him actively foraging in a dead log but in the shadows. The lighting on him wasn't great but I was determined to experiment with my new lens that allowed for a closer focus:
Lucky for me there was a pattern to his foraging technique: he'd dig deep in the dead log for insects and then look up, and then dig deep into the log again, and look back up...
So every time he stuck his head in the log I'd move in closer and was eventually able to be quite close to him as his back was to me, so I sat on the grass and enjoyed the show:
This admittedly is a cropped view of him coming up out of the log with wood slivers on his bill:
Luck would have it that his next move for me was into the afternoon sunlight, much to my delight:
His next move was to climb up on the cedar trunk...
...disappearing back into the shadows.
I have missed watching their nesting antics after last year's treat, which makes last week's encounter all the more special.
No comments:
Post a Comment