Wonderland Birds | 2025 Calendar
SEPTEMBER | Pileated Woodpecker
I have a vivid memory of jumping out of a packed car in our driveway—full of pets, kids, and everything else that goes along with the family circus after a summer in Wonderland—to try and photograph a Pileated Woodpecker that had just flown past the windshield. This was back in 2010, and I managed to photograph a dark and somewhat blurry picture of the woodpecker I had often heard but rarely seen. Their primordial call (a rapid “cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk") strikes a sound that cuts through the landscape, its sound waves hitting your bones like a gong, and you feel as if you’ve traveled back in time to the land of dinosaurs (adding to its prehistoric aura is their uncanny resemblance to pterodactyls, well, miniature pterodactyls.) I often mistake their calls for Northern Flickers and vice versa, (it’s helpful to remember that the Flicker’s “kick-kick-kick-kick-kick” call is more even in tone and less resonant than the Pileated’s call.)
My experiences with Pileated Woodpeckers in Wonderland have either been: a) outside with my camera and no Pileated Woodpeckers, or b.) outside without my camera and Pileated Woodpeckers fly right overhead or land in trees so close I could almost count the number of red feathers in its crest. Last year the elusive option “c” ( me outside, with my camera, looking at a Pileated Woodpecker) finally came to pass—with a bit of drama and stage lighting to boot.
It was early afternoon in October and I was photographing Palm Warblers foraging amongst the raspberry brambles and goldenrod in the back field. All of a sudden, I heard from behind me a loud, rattling “cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk” call and before I could turn around to confirm my suspicions, a Pileated Woodpecker swooped down right over my shoulder and arced back up to land astride the tree right in front of me. And if that wasn’t kismet enough, they gracefully and beautifully landed in a spotlight of natural sunlight breaking through the leaves. Their wide-eyed stare highlighted by the bright sun seemed to mirror the element of surprise I felt when suddenly I realized I was: a) outside with my camera and b) looking at a Pileated Woodpecker.