Piliated Woodpeckers

Piliated Woodpecker (female)

Piliated Woodpecker (male)

 We have had a pair of Piliated Woodpeckers out behind our house for the last several years. Recently I have been seeing them all over the Upper Valley, and been fortunate enough to get some decent looks. Here's a few photos, and some basic info on my favorite woodpecker....

 The Piliated Woodpecker is North America's largest woodpecker,approximately the size of a crow. It  is probably best known by the cartoon character it was the inspiration for, "Woody Woodpecker". The familiar woody woodpecker laugh -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2GlnC9V8RE&NR=1  was based on the actual call of the piliated woodpecker heard here:  http://www.pileatedwoodpeckercentral.com/audio/call.mp3

The Piliated Woodpecker  is shy and often hard to observe.  They are very territorial, defending their territory from other Piliated's year round.  It occupies areas with mature forests that contain many dead trees in which it will excavate its nest, and forage for its favorite food item; the carpenter ant. The Pileated Woodpecker also eats other insects as well as wild fruits and nuts. They obtain their food by scaling bark off trees and creating large excavations in trees to expose ant nests. 

Both the male and female share the work of excavating the nest cavity. They use their strong beaks to chisel away the wood, then gather the chips in their mouths, and spit them out the opening. 

Excavating the nest cavity

Spitting out the wood chips

 

Both the male and female have red crests. The crest on the male starts from the bill and runs to the nape. Whereas on the female the red crest starts farther back on the head. The females lack the red mustache stripe that the males have on the side of their face.

 The Piliated Woodpecker stays with the same mate for life. Each spring they excavate a new nest cavity.  They have one brood per year, typically 4 eggs. The babies fledge in approx 24-30 days, but stay with the parents until the fall when they go off on their own. 

More photos can be seen at http://jerichohillsphotography.com/woodpeckers

Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrel

 The Delmarva Peninsula Fox squirrel is is named for the location of its historic range on the Delmarva Peninsula, which includes Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and eastern Virginia (DEL-MAR-VA). The largest variety of tree squirrel, it weighs an average of 2.5-3 pounds. Its color is silver to slate gray with a white belly and can grow to be 30 inches long, including up to 15 inches of tail. Its ears are short and rounded.  The squirrel was listed as endangered in 1967, but has been making a comeback, and now only occurs naturally in parts of Maryland.

 Unlike the typical gray squirrel we are all familiar with, this squirrel is very quiet and shy and difficult to spot. It prefers to nest in tree cavities, and spends much of its time on the ground increasing its risk of being hit by cars.

Owls struggling to survive this winter....

Barred Owl

There have been several reports of owls being found dead this winter. While the causes are not always known, the most likely culprit is starvation. This winter has been particularly hard on wildlife that forages on mice and voles who live under the snow.  The snow cover this winter has been deep, and long lasting. The recent coating of ice makes it even more difficult. Owls hunt by using their incredible hearing and sight. Once an owl hears a mouse moving under the snow, they hone in on it and pounce with their talons. However, with a deep snow pack and a coating of ice on top, they are unable to break through.  Mice and voles are their main food supply, but when faced with starvation, they have been known to stake out bird feeders in hopes of poaching an unsuspecting bird.

Owls are typically nocturnal feeders meaning they feed at night. There have been numerous reports of owls being seen during the daytime. This is probably in response to the difficulty they have had finding food, they are forced to hunt longer.

There is not much that can be done to help the owls, nature will take its course. However, if you do find an owl that appears sick or in trouble, contact fish and game or a local bird rehabilitator.  If they get to them soon enough, they can be rehabbed and released back into the wild. We are not the only ones who can't wait for spring......

Rocky the Squirrel or Squirrels.....

While sorting through photo files I came across this picture I took in Norwich last Fall.
 I was looking for Pileated Woodpeckers, and happened to see a squirrel with his head poking out of a hole in a tree, and his tail hanging out of a hole right below. Cool shot I thought and off I went. Now that I look at it closer, I think the tail actually belonged to a second squirrel who was head first into the second hole. If the tail belonged to the top squirrel, I should have seen the bottom of his tail, not the top......

Click on the photo for closer look....

Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, Church Creek MD

I was fortunate enough to spend some time at the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge http://www.fws.gov/blackwater/ in Church Creek Maryland this past week. The refuge consists of over 25,000 acres of freshwater ponds, tidal wetlands, open fields, and mixed evergreen and deciduous forests. It is also home to the largest breeding population of Bald Eagles on the east coast north of Florida.

Conservatively, I saw 50-60 Bald Eagles during my visit. Many of them perched in the various dead trees throughout the refuge. The males were busy hunting ducks, geese and songbirds, as  the female eagles are busy tending their nests, as their eggs should begin hatching in the next week. I urge you to check out this link to the Blackwater Refuge eagles nest cam. http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html

In addition to the Eagles, I observed and photographed Great Blue Herons, Red Tailed Hawks, Snow Geese, Canadian Geese, and the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel. One of the most impressive sites I witnessed, was watching an eagle  fly over the thousands of snow geese congregated in one of the many pools, and they would all take off in mass. As many times as it happened, I wondered if the eagles were just playing with them as I never saw one make a serious attempt to take one down.

I learned that the female Bald Eagle is not only physically larger than the males (no comment), but they also always assume the highest perch. In a few of my photos from the refuge where the eagles are tussling, it always involved the female reasserting her higher position. It was fascinating to watch.

I met many photographers at the refuge.They ranged from retired couples with small point and shoot cameras, to professional wildlife photographers with their $25,000 set ups (which is a discussion for another time). Regardless of the equipment used, we all were able to witness and photograph many  incredible scenes.

I hope you enjoy the photos, and if your ever passing through Maryland, do try and stop by the Blackwater refuge, it truly is amazing.

View photos at:   http://jerichohillsphotography.com/blackwater

Welcome to my blog !!

I get many questions regarding the photos that I post on my website (http://jerichohillsphotography.com). The old saying "every picture tells a story", is so true. I hope to use this forum to post my photos that have an interesting or entertaining story, and tell that story along with some background information on the subject matter. I hope that you will find these story's informative and entertaining. There will also be the musings of a photographer trying to break into the very competitive world of wildlife photography. I hope you will join me for this adventure !

John