Hortense finds suet

©Bert Gildart: The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest of all woodpeckers, and every time one shows up at our feeder, I’ll alert Janie or she’ll alert me. “Hey,” called out Janie yesterday, “Hortense is back.” Several days ago, I alerted my wife. “It’s Hector!” I yelled. “He’s here again.”

MALE OR FEMALE?

Yes, we’ve actually taken to naming the birds. Hector is male and Hortense is female, and it’s easy to differentiate between the two, as Hector has a red mustache. On the other hand, the line above the upper mandible on Hortense is plain, meaning that she’s not so beautifully endowed. Or so I contend.

As you can see, yesterday Hortense, and not Hector, was at our feeder.

Neither of the two birds is casual about its arrival. Both arrive with a great deal of fanfare. Both know they want to feed on the suet that we’ve placed in a small grated container on the side of the huge Douglass Fir immediately adjacent to our much larger bird feeder, which we nailed to the railing.

CAUTIOUS APPROACH

The problem for them, however, is that they’re shy, and so they approach surreptitiously. Typically, following a loud Kik, kik; ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki from some way-overhead perch, possibly from the huge cottonwood some 50 or so feet away, one will fly to the Doug fir, landing some 15 or 20 feet above the feeder. Then Hector or Hortense will make tiny leaps downward, each time a little closer. If they’re not particularly hungry, they’ll move down diagonally, peeping first from one side of the tree then the other. Finally, as they approach the suet, each seems to loose its reserve and then it will quickly scoot to the container of food.

Hortense–not Hector

Other woodpeckers also love the food source, and our feeder typically attracts Downies, Hairies, Red-Shafted flickers; all arouse our interest, but none so much as do these two Pileated. Neither seems to be particularly pugnacious, certainly not like the hummingbirds of the summer, which tolerate no competition what-so-ever. Pileated woodpeckers, however, seem relaxed with their large size, for neither seems overly aggressive–despite their potential power.

ADAPTED FOR FLIGHT

Both Hector and Hortense stand about 20 inches tall from stem to stern, weigh about 12 ounces, and have wing spans of almost two and a half feet. Like all other birds, they have hollow bones, air sacs, common urogenital openings; incredibly large and strong hearts coupled with powerful respiratory systems–feathers–all features designed to keep weight down and make flight possible. And these two Pileated can certainly do that.

When one has had its fill of suet, with a quick flap of its wings, Hector or Hortense is off. But we know they’re still around by their incessant chatter: ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki.

On a cold winter day, we’re always glad for their company, and delighted we might be able to make their lives a little bit easier. Certainly, they (and all the other birds that alight on our feeders) enrich ours, as our other postings suggest. As you’ll see, the Pileated is a common visitor.

Camera used: Nikon D300

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 9:26 am and is filed under Natural History/Conservation, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.