Interesting Birds

A couple days ago, Dave was cutting trees when he heard the unmistakable sound of the pileated woodpecker. Rat-tat-tat-tat echoed loudly through the woods. We’ve been trying to catch this incredible bird in action for years, but they’re elusive. Seeing us, the woodpecker would hide itself on the opposite side of the tree and we’d go round and round in circles.

But Dave outsmarted him this time, by having JMoney (our maintenance man) move around the tree while he stood still with the camera.

Pileated Woodpeckers are 16 to 19″ (according to this website) with a wingspan of 26 to 30″.

They drill rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These holes can be so deep, smaller trees will sometimes break. Usually, I’ll see wood slivers dusting the ground at the base of the tree before I’ll see the hole he’s been working on.

We’ve also had this visitor to our feeder this past week:

a baltimore oriole! I love these birds . . . one of my fondest memories was Grandpa standing at the foot of his apple tree, calling to them. They actually answered.

I only see them in May, when they eat the oranges I put out for them. I believe they use the nectar to build their gourd shaped nest.

A few weeks ago, Dave and Ben saw this guy hanging around the bird feeder:

It’s kind of hard to see him clearly, but we think he’s a Red Tailed Hawk. He’s a sit and wait predator . . . obviously sitting and waiting for the squirrels and birds that visit my feeder. We only saw him that week, then he was gone.

Today is Friday, and I’m expecting approximately forty check-ins! Most are taking advantage of our Spring Weekend Special. Five consecutive weekends, for one low price. Campers arrive on Friday’s and go home Sundays, but leave their equipment right on site (storage really). We do this again in the Fall; click on our website on the right there, and go to our Campground Calendar to read all about it.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there! Check back late Sunday or early Monday for some pic’s from breakfast and arts and crafts . . .