A pair of pileateds dancing around a tree: Rare sight

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 29 October 2009 13:49

Seeing one Pileated Woodpecker in your back yard is always a treat. However, seeing two — out of mating season — was a special treat that Bruno Santini of Mount Kisco, N.Y., had recently, thanks to Columbus Day.

“My wife and I have really been lucky to have had a large variety of birds visiting us all summer long,” Bruno writes. “The trick is to give them high quality bird seed in the proper feeder placed in the proper spot. Along with blackberries, raspberries, mulberry trees, and having a garden, which also helps in attracting and keeping birds coming back.

“Late this morning, as I was enjoying my Columbus Day, I saw two Pileated Woodpeckers chasing each other around tree trunks and what appeared to be sword fighting with their beaks. I ran for my camera and I was able to get some what I thought to be some good shots.

“I am sharing them with you because I was thrilled to see these gigantic woodpeckers in my yard. They chased each other from tree truck to tree truck and dueled for at least 15 minutes before flying away.

“The first tree I saw them in was right next to where I have been cutting wood for the last two months. I read that they are often attracted to the smell of freshly cut wood. Incredible!

“The last time I saw a Pileated Woodpecker was hanging upside down at my feeder some time ago. They are a rare sighting and I can hardly wait for my wife to come home from work so I can show her the pictures.

“It pays to be a teacher; whenever I have a day off I always start it with a cup of coffee in the sunroom looking at the birds. I photograph them, making sure I have a variety of angles of them. I was lucky to get a shot of the woodpecker with its wings spread showing the white stripes and a side shot showing how it uses its tail in a rigid manner to balance itself against the tree.”

Many woodpeckers use their tail feathers to add support as they whack away at trees. But in the case of a Pileated, the positioning a bit more prominent.

Bruno appears to have witnessed two female Pileateds. Since this is not mating season, the two may be young birds just having fun or two birds just fighting over a good tree — and source of food. These birds love ants, especially carpenter ants, and drill deep into dead or dying tree trunks looking for them.

Or he may have seen an odd “dance” that was recorded more than a century ago by Thoreau expert Francis H. Allen, whose account is contained in A. C. Bent’s classic Life Histories of North American Birds, published by the Smithsonian Institution:

“On the side of Mount Monadnock, N. H., October 13, 1908, I watched two birds executing a sort of dance. When first seen they were clinging to the bole of a spruce, near the ground. They hopped up and down the trunk, frequently pecking at each other’s bills simultaneously, now on one side of the tree, now on the other.

“When I got too near, they flew a short distance to another tree, and I followed them about from tree to tree for about half an hour, often within 50 or 60 feet of them. They always lit at the base of the tree and worked up a few feet, seldom going more than five feet up, I think. They hopped backward and downward a great deal, and often they lifted and partly spread their wings.

“Their motions were limber and undulating, marked by a certain awkward grace, without the stiffness of the smaller woodpeckers. The crests were elevated occasionally. I noticed no difference in the markings, but I was then unacquainted with the sexual differences of the species, and I cannot say whether or not they were male and female. They occasionally uttered a faint wahk, wahk, wahk, in a soft, conversational tone; but it was for the most part a silent performance.”

You don’t have to be in the wilderness of New Hampshire to see interesting wildlife displays, but a job with good holidays helps!

Wrong warbler

Warblers can be tough to identify. In this column two weeks ago, Todd Becker provided a photo of a bird in his hand that had struck his window, identifying it a Tennessee Warbler. However, Brian O’Toole of Audubon Greenwich tells us that the bird was “actually a female Black-throated Blue Warbler.  Note the whitish supercillium, white eye arc, dark cheek and white patch on wing that identify it as a female Black-throated Blue.  It also has a larger bill than a Tennessee.”

Coming Up

Chestnut Ridge Hawk Watch, trip to Arthur Butler Sanctuary in Bedford, Saturday, Oct. 31, 1 to 4 p.m., meet at 1 at Audubon Greenwich, 613 Riversville Road, to carpool/get directions; RSVP Ted  203-869-5272x230.

Autumn Migration Bird Walks, every Saturday, 7 to 8:45 a.m., in October, meet at Fairchild Sanctuary, North Porchuck Road in Greenwich, free, 203-869-5272 x221, greenwich.audubon.org

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, trip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 9 to 3, Audubon Greenwich, RSVP Ted 203-869-5272 at x230.

Bird Walks with Luke Tiller, to register, sunrisebirding.com/walks.htm; 203-981-9924, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

First Sundays, birding at Greenwich Point with Meredith Sampson of Wild Wings, and other guides, meet at the second concession stand, 203-637-9822.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Jack Sanders. Send sightings or comments to: jackfsanders [at sign] yahoo.com, or to Bird Notes, Box 1019, Ridgefield, CT 06877; or call 203-438-1183, extension BIRD (2473), and leave a message with your report, spelling your first and last names and telling us your town. If you need help identifying a bird, try your local nature center. If you find an injured bird, call wildlife rehabilitator Darlene Wimbrow of Redding, 203-438-0618, Wildlife in Crisis of Weston, 203-544-9913, or Wild Wings of Greenwich, 203-637-9822. The columnist’s website is www. sandersbooks. com.

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