Saturday, November 1, 2008

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.....

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.....

That was the distinctive noise I heard as I walked back to the house from my studio this afternoon. I knew exactly who it was!


I couldn't see him to start with as I was looking up into the trees in our woods, and he was actually quite low down - only about 6 foot up in the tree. I was close to him, but knew he was busy and wouldn't bother with me. So I went inside and got my camera.


His head moves so fast, it's difficult to get a good photo in focus - guess I needed to adjust my camera - but it was pouring down with rain. (Yes, we have rain at last...but that's another story!)

Our arborist just came yesterday to check out the trees. Obviously our friend here thought he should check them out too. Not sure how big he's hoping this hole we get.... I'll have to keep an eye on it.
And if you didn't know, our visitor is Chisel the Pileated woodpecker. The largest of American woodpeckers - they can grow up to 17 inches tall. You can tell it's a male by his little red cheeks - the females have white cheeks! And yes, the pileated woodpecker was the bird that inspired the creation of Woody the Woodpecker!

6 comments:

Martha Hughes said...

Great photographs. I love walking through the woods and hearing the distinctive sound of a woodpecker tap, tap, tapping on the trees.

Ruth said...

I just looked at your photos on your Etsy shop. Just lovely. Especially "unfurled".

The Bunny Maker said...

We get yellow woodpeckers in our garden here - not nearly as large as these ones though. thanks for PMC firing info!

The Bunny Maker said...

oops forgot! interesting that you liked 'unfurled' as that was the picture I chose as my favourite item from dancing monkeys two shops for her blog giveaway!

Lily Pang said...

I read somewhere that the speed of the wood packer moving his head is something like light or faster. So nice to catch it!

Mariana said...

That's a bit woodpecker! we have some woodpeckers here in the woods behind our house, but they are much much smaller!
greay colors he has...