Pileated, home

As is often the case with woodpeckers, I heard the bird before I saw it. And based on the slow and loud bangings on punky wood, I had a sneaking suspicion that, in poking my head out the kitchen door, all I'd spot of what I suspected was a Pileated Woodpecker would be its huge, black-and-white-feathered shadow fleeing into the woods. But this morning I got lucky, and when I'd gotten a quick glimpse and taken a few minutes to grab the Sigma supertelephoto and affix it to the dSLR, the great bird was still there, almost waiting for its photo op. Many birders see the Pileated as the model for Woody Woodpecker, that manic cartoon character, and while Woody resembles the species, cartoonist Walter Lantz, who created the immortal Disney star, said that Woody was actually based on the antics of the Acorn Woodpecker, a western species. Whatever the bird's "real" animated alter-ego, I was grateful that I still had the Sigma in my toolbox. I also felt a bit sad, since I knew I was going to have to return the giant lens to its owner the following day.