A View From the Bridge

I went for a walk yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and the cold air before today's expected snow. I have had a very bad cold for the past two weeks and this was one of the few times I wanted to walk and make sure my legs still worked. Still, I didn't want to go too far, so I went up my street and around to a brook the officials call the "north branch of the Whippany River," tho' that river is some distance away.

It is calming to look at this brook from this bridge. In early spring there is usually a pair of phoebes flying to and fro with nest materials. Later in the spring they do the same with insects to feed their young. The nest is always built under a structure, in this case the bridge.

Pileated woodpecker (RE Berg-Anderson)

I have seen other birds from this bridge, from the large great blue heron to a tiny winter wren, from a noisy great crested flycatcher to quiet wood ducks. But at this time of year most of these birds are not here.

However, a knocking above me caused me to look up. There was a pileated woodpicker.

No matter how often I see one of these crow-sized birds with their large, red crests I am impressed. This one was whacking into a dead tree, its usual habit as it searches for its favorite meal, carpenter ants. After a minute of this it flew across the road to another dead tree, the white patches on its black wings pleasingly visible. 

It proceeded to whack at this tree a good, long time. I am sure the people driving by me as I stood on the road shoulder were wondering what I was looking at for so long, presuming they even noticed me. Most of the time I feel invisible when I walk outside, rarely running into neighbors, rarely getting so much as a hello when I walk in my town's streets. It is the times, I guess. I prefer the solitude.

So I watched the woodpecker and every so often the sun would show the red "moustache." So this was a male (except for that sign, the male and female are identical). As I watched I wondered if it was excavating a nest. According to my Stokes Field Guide, pileateds put their nest in dead trees, way up high. The opening is about 3 inches across, which seems very small for what looks like a large bird. But the eggs rest as much as two feet into the tree. That means the woodpecker would have to be hammering for an awfully long time.

Male pileated (RE Berg-Andersson)

During the summer, when I had the invasion of carpenter ants, I thought how nice it would've been to have a pileated woodpecker hanging around the bathroom. Of course, that would've been ridiculous. For one thing it's a wild bird, not a pet. For another, it would've spent its time hammering large holes in the walls where the two colonies were nesting. 

As i watched, every so often the bird would pull its head back and it seemed to be having an ant snack. Finally, I turned to go. Then I looked back again. The bird was gone. This has happened to me before when I've watched a hawk in a tree. It seems to freeze and we watch each other as I stand below. Then, the second I turn away it silently flies off.

At some point I'll go back and see if the pileated was excavating a nest or having a three-course dinner. I won't be surprised if my watching spooked it off. But there are plenty of other pileateds and dead wood is hard to find in the suburbs.