The Pileated Woodpecker Returns

 In late April, I saw this large woodpecker in my backyard, but he disappeared before I could take his picture. Fortunately, I heard him yesterday — they can be noisy birds! I looked out and saw him on a stump next to my deck. Unfortunately, the view was obscured by the railing. Then he flew up to a tree and I was able to get pictures, although at a distance. They aren’t the best woodpecker pictures I’ve taken, but they’ll do for now. He quickly disappeared again.

Here’s the stump that he’s been pecking on. I recently noticed that something had been tearing it up. I was relieved to see that it was a large woodpecker and not some sort of rodent. The stump is near my house, which is one reason that I had the tree cut down four years ago. The branches were brushing against my windows, and they also provided a bridge for a squirrel that got into my attic.

The tree was a Bradford pear, also called Callery pear. It had pretty flowers, and was a popular landscape tree until people noticed that it was reproducing itself as a thorny shrub. Now it is considered an invasive species.

I appreciate the woodpecker attacking this trunk. It must’ve been harboring insects, because the woodpecker has destroyed about a third of it. I hope he chips away at the whole thing.