Interesting Bird Visitor Today

[HunterDave]

Nothing earth shattering but considering that Pileated Woodpeckers need a sizable amount of forest to inhabit, it's a little unusual to see one on the edge of town in an area surrounded by farmland. I figure that this young fella is setting out on his own to find his own patch of bush and stopped by to eat a few chokecherries. Lousy photo taken through a window with an iphone but you get the idea.

[JimPS]

Truly a majestic bird and always a thrill to see one.

[Twisted Canuck]

I've heard they're good eating.....



Kidding, they are actually a great looking bird. We've had a couple northern flickers showing up around here recently, pretty cool looking bird too. I hadn't seen one since I moved north from Pincher Creek area, but was happy to see a couple out in my coyote spot in the last couple weeks.

[lannie]

I think they are many of the down here in the South West.

[gitrdun]

That is very cool. Ever since I saw my pair of first eastern king birds nesting on my property, I've been "shooo shoooing" the magpies away. Now, they come back every year.

[catnthehat]

We have a pair of Pileated woodpeckers at our lake lot.
Cat

[Bigwoodsman]

I often see a pair of these in the river valley west of Fort Edmonton Park. Always fun to see these anywhere.

BW

[Deep]

These enjoy the suet I have by my bird feeder in Glenora.

[Bushmaster]

Went for a drive here a coupla days after Xmas and saw one. But he wasn't giving any photo ops !! Not overly common around here but I have seen them before.

[Bonescreek]

Apillieated. (sp?)

Have had the blessing of having the woody wood pecker himself,
within 12' of my climbing stand in years gone bye.

Used to see 12 to 14 a year, only seen 1 or 2 pair recently.
A friend next door used to call them "Jokers" because the way
they're call sounds like a hidieous laugh.
Calling back and forth, two and fro.
Who will come, and who will go ?



Truely a beautiful and majestic bird.
Used to hear pairs of Chuck Widow Wills well into the night,
at least a dozen or more, ten years ago now.

Doreen called one in to the deck one summer night.
Could only see a shadowed sillouete against the sky.
Like a small owl, only fast and sweeping past.
Just an outline of a bird in the night sky.
Here and gone. Just like that.

I remember these things sweet as a summer breeze.

[Badback]

Cool pic...I have had only Downy's come to my yard...

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

We have a pair of Pileated woodpeckers at our lake lot.
Cat

Same here, out at Lac Ste Anne. In the Spring when they are mating the males knock on things with their beak to attract the females. Two years ago one decided to use a satellite dish.....lol! Flying jackhammers!

I remember reading that they need numerous hectors of forest in order to remain in the area. Both the male and female disappear for a month or so because both care for the nest. I love their crazy laugh like one fella mentioned.

[Bonescreek]

My favorite bird of winter is a toss up between the
Bunting and the Wren.

Little Snow Birds.

So small yet so big like a bubble the colder it gets outside.
With twig like legs they stand supported in the snow.
And not a thought about the cold.
Just a twitch of the head a half second stare through a black and brown beady
eye, just for a moment.

Then off they go. Just like that.
What were they thinking ?
Friend or foe ?

[HunterDave]

We went for a little walk on the edge of the bush today and there was a small flock of nice looking birds that I'll have to try to find out what they are. I don't normally see them. They were about the size of a dove with red markings on their head similar to what a finch has. One, I'm guessing a male, had a red belly just like what a robin would have in orange. Eating the seeds on the tops of weeds about 2' tall.

[Big Red 250]

I used to have a nesting pair every year on my acreage. The nearest forest was about 20 miles away, so I find that part hard to believe. I had a 25 acre of bush on my property. A few years back we had a big wind storm that blew down the poplar that they nested in and we never saw them again.

[Strix]

Pileated Woodpeckers visit my yard year round. They spent several years excavating a cavity in one of the large poplars on my back lawn. They never did nest there but since last fall a female pileated is using this cavity to roost in every night. I find it interesting how early she goes to roost and how late she emerges from the cavity in the morning. I have watched her enter the cavity to roost a full hour and a half before sunset. Likewise she often sleeps in, in the morning, and doesn't emerge until an hour or so after official sunrise. They make a great yard bird and are the topic of conversation for any visitors. The photo is of a male on my 'suet tree' from a few years ago.

[PartTimeHunter]

I don't know the names of them but we get three sizes of the little peckers (pun intended), small, medium and large. The big ones have a body of about 12 - 14", the little guys are maybe 4". Every damned year one of them uses the roof of the shop (metal clad) as a telegraph pad all gd day. Aaarrgh! makes a guy wanna go postal!

[Flight01]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

We went for a little walk on the edge of the bush today and there was a small flock of nice looking birds that I'll have to try to find out what they are. I don't normally see them. They were about the size of a dove with red markings on their head similar to what a finch has. One, I'm guessing a male, had a red belly just like what a robin would have in orange. Eating the seeds on the tops of weeds about 2' tall.

Pine Grosbeaks ?
Can be red heads or green/yellow?

[Flight01]

Another pic

[HunterDave]

They looked bigger than grosbeaks, Flight, more dove size. I'm going to do a search for them now. I don't remember seeing them ever before.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by Flight01

Pine Grosbeaks ?
Can be red heads or green/yellow?

I had a look at birds of Alberta and you must be right. They looked a lot bigger than grosbeaks but I suppose that they might have had their feathers puffed up a bit. I go by there everyday on my checks so I'll try to get a picture.

[58thecat]

Got feeders on my deck and see some weird looking birds come for the food. Good entertainment for the cats who sit at the window and loose it, make sounds like they are talking to the birds.
Sometimes I see birds that are very rare to this area, nature, very unpredictable

[score]

We have a pair here on the west outskirts of Edmonton. They go through the bells and suet pretty quick .

Of all the birds in our yard I would say that woodpeckers (mostly Downy, with a couple of Hairy) are the most numerous along with Chickadees.

The populations of visiting birds have been down for the last few years, at least here. Yesterday was the first time I saw a few Redpolls in a long while.

And Dave, I can't think of what that small flock you saw would be other than the Pine Grosbeak.

[357xp]

I like seeing those birds too. One thing I don't like about them is how many spruce trees they damage by chopping huge holes close to the bottem, looks like somebody went to town with a hammer and chisel. Tree don't last long after that.

[antlercarver]

On living large white poplar trees sometimes you see a type fungus which I call a conk. These grow on diseased trees which have a soft punky center. Almost all wood pecker nesting holes will be in these type of trees. The wood pecker has only to cut through a few inches of solid wood to get into the soft punky wood center to create a cavity. Much less work than solid wood all the way.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by score

And Dave, I can't think of what that small flock you saw would be other than the Pine Grosbeak.

Yes, I think that both you and Flight are right....it had to have been. For some reason they looked a lot bigger than what I usually see. I'm sure that they'll hang around that area because of all the seeds on the weeds there. I'll try to get a picture the next time that I see them.

[rickrobe]

We even get the odd one flying through Hardisty...bald prairie mostly but the birds seem to like it.