Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
Cathy, Dorothy, and I walked around Lake Needwood today, starting from (and ending at) Needwood Mansion and walking clockwise. I carried my long lens (and monopod) and at first didn’t think I’d see much. There were a lot of folks out so any little birds that might normally be near the trail were few and far between. On the north side of the lake, however, we passed a man with a long lens similar to mine. I asked if he was photographing birds and he said he was, that he had just seen a pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). It wasn’t visible from right there but a little further along I could hear it’s call. We actually saw two of them and I got one photo with both in it, but I was shooting through branches and it isn’t worth sharing. Most of the shots, in fact, were not all that good, either blurry or with intervening branches. Even this one has a branch with stems in front of the bird, but they are small the bird is reasonably sharp. Not as good as I’d like, but pretty clear what it is. We also saw mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus), and a ruby-crowned kinglet (Corthylio calendula).