Zoom w a View: Pileated woodpecker - 15 ft. from my wooden skull

Nose-deep into an earlier post about job creation, I barely noticed the loud call of a large bird as it settled onto a branch just outside the computer-room window of my son's house in Fenelon Falls.

But a memory stirred inside my little round and wooden head.

I recognize that sound, I thought. It's from a woodpecker.

I looked out the window, spotted the bird - a pileated woodpecker - and walked downstairs for my camera.

Shots through the window were blurred by the window screen. So, I stepped onto the balcony. The bird left, then returned, and I was able to get a few decent photos in spite of the strong wind, swaying branches and nervous antics of the bird.


("The bird finally sat still - for a second": photo GH)

Appearances by this type of woodpecker are becoming more frequent in Fenelon Falls. I saw my first such bird during a visit in September.

They may becoming less frequent in other locales.

This from an article entitled 'Pileated woodpecker is knocking on wood for survival.'

"A damning report, recently released by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation for North America (CEC), has indicated that timber harvest in Ontario is destroying the habitat of one of the province's iconic woodland bird species, the Pileated Woodpecker. The Ministry of Natural Resources has vowed to protect the bird, and yet Ontario's forestry policies are contributing to the species' decline."

Coincidentally, the species, along with several other creatures, is being threatened in the USA as well, so says 'song for the blue ocean,' a book mentioned in the aforementioned 'earlier post.'

The article went on to say the following:

"Pileated Woodpecker populations will drop dramatically unless the Ontario government intervenes and affords meaningful protection for the species. The report indicates that Pileated Woodpecker habitat will decrease in Ontario by 35% due to logging."

(Same problem in the US.)

"The report investigated how logging activities affect birds protected by the Migratory Birds Convention Act. The report shows that logging is destroying habitat and nesting grounds for several migratory bird species, such as the Boreal Chickadee and Bay-breasted Warbler. Although the Pileated Woodpecker is not a migratory species, the report indicates that their projected habitat loss is the most dramatic at 35%. The survival of both Ontario's local and migratory bird populations is at stake."
(March, 2007, earthroots.org)

I hope this won't be the last picture I'll ever get.

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Are these birds in your neighbourhood?

Where?

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