Excavation project
Pileated Woodpeckers, our largest local member of the bird family Picidae, are more often heard than seen, and this morning, when I heard the characteristic Ick... Ick... Ick... calls fairly nearby, I decided to get brave and follow them into the woods. Somewhere, of course, there was a crow-sized woodpecker making noise, but, as is usually the case, I never spotted it. This is par for the course. But as I walked and looked around, I noticed some fresh wood chips at the base of a tree, and when I circled it, I saw just how attractive it had been to the birds. They're eternally after Carpenter Ants, which excavate hardwoods and build elaborate nests inside trees. Pileated somehow know where the ants are hiding, and, if they find them, make excavations of their own. Bon appetit!