Guess who is back??? Mr. and Mrs. Pileated Woodpecker

Today we had they pleasure of seeing the Pileated Woodpecker again! I have been patiently awaiting his return. Not only did he return, but he brought his mate with him. Yes, you heard me right I had our Male Pileated and Female Pileated together today!!! I can not tell you how thrilled Kelly and I were. They visited a dead tree in our back yard for a little date time snacking, lol. 

I can not even begin to tell you how amazing this is. This picture was taken from the deck door in my Master Bedroom. Kelly and I set up a chair and Scope and enjoyed them mostly all day. We just couldn't stop watching. It's super rare to catch one of these birds in the wild, let alone a pair like this.

Definitely the blurriest pictures I have ever taken, but I still enjoy the thrill of trying to capture the.

After they left and went into our woods to check out what they were 'snacking', and this is a close up of the tree where they spent most of the day. I was almost thinking they were trying to nest at one pint. How incredible would that have been. I could;t be that lucky, could I?

This day was definitely for the record books. I don't think I will ever catch the chance of seeing the two of them together like this again. It's good to know there is a couple here, and that they will be mating in my backyard sometime in the future, so cool! 

O_M_G - The Pileated Woodpecker

This is probably the most exciting post I am going to put here. Since I started birding all I hear about is the elusive Pileated Woodpecker and how many birders go a lifetime without seeing one.  My handy dandy Bird Book told me they were here, so of course I had the instant need to see one. I talked to Kelly about it and he basically had a deep belly roll laugh at my expense. He said that there was no way possible for me to see one here in my yard. He went his whole life never seeing one, and I would just have to settle for pictures in a book. HMMMMM...That just made me want to lure one in even more. 

Well, on this day I was happily in my room doing nothing special when I heard Kelly shout to me to come fast and to grab my camera. I did as I was told. He was at our back garage door and with a shocked faced he said, omg you are not going to believe this, look outside the window. I did and what did I see looking at me.... O_M_G!!!! I was so excited my big ole thumb got in the picture, but you can clearly see him. It was a male Pileated Woodpecker, SHUT THE FRONT DOOR, lol. This was beyond crazy. I can not even put into words the excitement I felt. Kelly was pretty dumbfounded and so was I. The pictures are total yuck, BUT WHO CARES. I have picture proof of my sighting and that is so cool. The story wouldn't be half has great if I didn't have a picture to back it up. He kept peaking up and down at us from behind our retaining wall. 

He than flew off and headed for a dead tree stump we have in the yard to get himself a little snack. Oh how wonderful this guy was to see. He was ENORMOUS, almost a bit scary at first. He definitely makes a statement when he's present. I wonder if this was a freak visit or if he will return. I willed him into my yard, which is a bit crazy. even my husband was puzzled that as soon as I started asking for one, he appeared. Maybe I'm secretly the Bird Whisperer?  I have read that once a pileated settles into a location they are usually there for life, I could only be so lucky.