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Re: Plenty of pileateds




I wonder what effect the various hurricanes and ice storms in the last ten years have had on populations of woodpeckers and other birds that depend on dead or downed timber?


I vividly remember seeing a pileated early one beautiful summer morning at West Point on the Eno, on the bank just upstream and opposite the mill. First-time sighting. It later reminded me of what people have said about seeing the ivory-bill - why it was called the "Lord God Bird." The pileated evoked in me the same "Lord God" reaction. It practically made my hair stand up on my neck! Although I had never thought of it that way, they are very prehistoric-looking. Pelicans strike me the same way.

Cheers,
Paula Mangiafico
Southern Durham, NC

--On Thursday, April 17, 2003 3:50 PM +0000 Rob G <thrush@hotmail.com> wrote:




Mike S. wrote:


So, I guess my question is whether anybody else is noticing more
Pileateds than usual, or is this simply a matter of spending time where
the birds happen to be? Personally, I find the prehistoric looks of the
Pileated woodpecker make it visually stunning and oddly fascinating.

my impression(and Will could probably put numbers on this) is that both spring and Xmas area bird counts have shown steadily increasing Pileated nos. for the last decade (although this could always be an artifact of more birders better covering more areas). Places I frequent were showing increased nos. for about 8 yrs. and then the last couple yrs. seem way down, hopefully just dumb luck on my part -- I'm amazed every spring at the no. of strangers and nonbirders I run into who've had Pileateds in their yards and feeders!! And YES!, clearly the MOST STUNNING bird of the forest! : - )

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**Rob Gluck......... Chapel Hill,NC......... thrush@hotmail.com


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