PSA - keep your phone/camera near you. UPDATE; . . I got him . . :D

[gardenmom5]

We have two suet feeders.  It's fun to see the variety of birds - and frustrated Stellar's Jays .. . Even saw a crow staring at it today, he flew off.
we do get a lot of Downy Woodpeckers - they're small .. 

But - I had a pileated woodpecker - and my phone was across the room.  I was afraid to get up and scare it off.  I had dudeling get dh - as he loves them.  He looked, then walked further into the room to get his glasses. . . they can see through the windows!  and it flew off.   

Those suckers are big.  (adult is 16 - 19 inches from head to tail)
Picture is just a sample.

Edited May 27 by gardenmom5

[klmama]

Beautiful!

[Pawz4me]

A few years ago I stepped into our backyard and had the great fortune of seeing two pileated woodpeckers doing what I believe was one of their mating dance rituals -- they were both going around and around a big tree trunk. It seemed like a magical thing to see, and it's one of those nature things I'll never forget. They really are magnificent birds.

[marbel]

My husband and I watched a pileated woodpecker tearing apart a stump in our yard. The size of the chunks of wood that bird flung away blew our minds! Saw it the one time and never since. No pics - even if we'd had them in our pockets we wouldn't have tried to capture that through a screened window. We just enjoyed the moment. Then sent our kids videos other people had taken of pileateds doing basically the same thing "ours" had done. So fun. 

[catz]

I love when we see these in our yard.  I haven’t managed to get a decent photo of one yet.  They are so LOUD when they are pecking lol.  

[wintermom]

I LOVE woodpeckers, and the giant ones are spectacular!

[Sharpie]

I hope it comes back and you can capture it with your camera.  I love woodpeckers.  I've never had a pileated one at my suet feeders.  That's my dream. 

[kirstenhill]

We get pileateds once every few weeks in our wooded back yard.  I've seen them a couple times on our suet feeder and it's always very impressive!

[gardenmom5]

hehehe. . .This time, I had my camara.   hehehe

 

 

and you can see the suet the birds have splashed onto the window . . . 

[kbutton]

We had one, and it sounds like someone hacking at something with a hatchet, lol! I agree with the others about the noise and the big hunks of flying wood! They are impressive.

[Corraleno]

My house backs up to a small wooded area and most of the houses are 2-3 stories with cedar siding, so woodpeckers are a serious problem around here! One neighbor has a big hole in their siding just under the roofline and the wood cladding on my chimney has tons of holes pecked in it plus they keep trying to drill a hole just above my bedroom window. The worst is when they hammer on the metal cap over the chimney — it sounds like a drill or jack hammer! It took me a long time to figure out what it was when I first moved here, I kept thinking it was a neighbor using power tools until I happened to hear it while I was in the front yard and turned to see the woodpecker drilling on the neighbor's chimney cap.

[gardenmom5]

10 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

My house backs up to a small wooded area and most of the houses are 2-3 stories with cedar siding, so woodpeckers are a serious problem around here! One neighbor has a big hole in their siding just under the roofline and the wood cladding on my chimney has tons of holes pecked in it plus they keep trying to drill a hole just above my bedroom window. The worst is when they hammer on the metal cap over the chimney — it sounds like a drill or jack hammer! It took me a long time to figure out what it was when I first moved here, I kept thinking it was a neighbor using power tools until I happened to hear it while I was in the front yard and turned to see the woodpecker drilling on the neighbor's chimney cap.

I have redwood siding - I understand.

dh put up rat glue trap up on top of the chimney piece one year.  In the spring, when they're making noise to try to attract girls . . . we swear it flew off spitting glue out of its mouth . .. It promptly started pecking on the neighbor's house.
Seems like he went and put bird spikes up there.   doesn't work for siding . . . I've hit the exterior wall (from the inside) right where they're pecking so many times . . . . 

I keep telling dh - we need to make sure the house is sprayed for bugs - so they won't ever find anything.

[Chris in VA]

We had pileateds at our VA house. My husband would get so excited it's now become a family joke--

"There's a woodpecker!"

"Is it a PILEATED?"

We had bugs that laid eggs in our soffit (or fascia, I forget which is which)--when they hatched, the woodpeckers would come out and make holes looking for the bugs. Dh had to fill a ton of holes. (Carpenter bees?)