Thursday, December 16, 2010

Pileated Woodpecker

I went to Lakeshore Park in Novi yesterday hoping to turn up some owls. I spent about an hour searching but came up empty although I did hear a Brown Creeper. As I was about to get to my car, however, a huge Pileated Woodpecker flew into a nearby tree. I was surprised to see it begin to eat Poison Ivy berries since I don't usually think of Woodpeckers (with the exception of the Red-bellied) as fruit eaters. I think a nearby Red-bellied Woodpecker wanted the berries as well because he dove at the Pileated several times and was scolding until it flew across the road. The Pileated was my 190th bird in Oakland County this year, according to the lists published by Scott Jennex this was only done once before this year. This has been an above average year for birds in Oakland, however, and I am the third birder to get over 190 this year.
I stopped by Carpenter Lake today and found four Song Sparrows south of the dam, this was the first time I have seen them there in the winter. There were about ten Dark-eyed juncos in the back as well.
It has been nice to get out the last few days after the terrible weather over the weekend.

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