I know some of you enjoy bird watching as much as I do. I've been (slow) building my property to be more accommodating to wildlife; sometimes not an easy thing to do when you live in the suburbs.

Anyway, I just spotted an Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) on my property this morning. For those that don't know, this is the bird that Woody Woodpecker is modeled after. The bird is as big as a crow and typically prefer mature forests, which is why I'm surprised to see it on my property. I have a .5 acre lot in the hills of Nashville which is heavy wooded yet very developed. I've been planting a lot of fruit/nut trees (pear, plum, peach, Chinese chestnut), all of which are now mature. The Pileated Woodpecker is a fruit/nut eater as well as having a steady diet of beetle larvae and carpenter ants (yeah!).

When you've been watching perching birds for weeks on end, and suddenly a Common Crow or Pileated Woodpecker lands in your backyard, they look REALLY big! We've had a few hawks land as well, catching a squirrel or two throughout the year. They look big enough to carry off a small dog! 

That's cool. My wife does a little bird watching. It is always fun to see a new species. I have never seen one of those woodpeckers. The only ones I have seen I think are the Hairy Woodpecker.

We also get lots of hawks in our neighborhood. Surprising for the burbs. Must be lots to eat here. Last week a Great Blue Heron landed in the back yard. It makes a yearly stop here to get fish out of the neighbors ornamental pond. They are not to happy about it.  

I love animals of all kinds.
I don't bird watch professionally, but keep my eyes and ears open whenever I'm outside.
A couple of days ago we were blessed with a pair of yellow tailed, black cockatoos.
http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/cockatoo.htm

They aren't exactly rare, but you certainly don't see them everyday.
We have a few other regular parrot visitors, all of which is great when you are used to brown and black European birds.

that parrot story reminds me...the other day i stepped into a cab and heard a very loud whooping screech. i thought it was the passenger behind me yelling coz i beat him to the punch. in fact, it was a rather nice-sized african grey, perched atop the cabby's shoulder.

it was awesome! this bird had quite the personality, and even took the cab fare from my hand and passed it on to his 'master'. i shot some pics of it with my cell phone, but they're really not good enough quality to warrant putting up here. a cool experience nonetheless.

in other urban birdie stories...maybe some of you have heard of pale male and his wifey--the two hawks who somehow managed to set up shop on 5th avenue in nyc. there was quite a stir last year because some co-op board wanted them removed from their nest atop a 5th avenue building, or some such thing. celebrities got involved, a media circus ensued, and if i recall correctly, pale male and co. were reinstated to their nest. it's a cool story.

http://www.palemale.com/

this site chronicles the "eviction" proceedings and more:
http://pages.cthome.net/rwinkler/news.htm


few months back, i found a very cool website that does great educating and outreach to help preserve birds and their habitats. among other things, they discussed simple things humans can do to keep birds safe, and how to care for an injured bird. one safety strategy involved hanging a cd on one's window, to provide a visual cue for birds to not land there. apparently, many birds are injured or killed from running into windows, because the reflection of the trees in the windows confuses them, and they think they're about to land on a treebranch. the cd reflects sunlight and the glimmer helps divert the bird's flight path away from the window. 

can't recall the url, unfortunately, but if i remember it, i'll post.

These Monk Parakeets have been sighted around Chicago for years.  My father-in-law had some coming to his window bird feeder a couple of years ago in the suburbs north of the city.

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/winter2003/monkparakeets.html

Interesting stories everyone.

FYI about the Pileated Woodpecker, they are native to our region, but they are shy and prefer mature forests. To see one on my property really surprised me. I typically only see them when I go camping or hike deep into a forest or thick wooded area. We've got a lot of trees (woods) in and around my property, but with all the homes ... well, just didn't think I'd spot one.

There was a parakeet sitting in our big cottonwood tree a couple days ago when I was out working. Squawking like a banshee (the bird, not me ). I'm sure that one was someone's escaped pet. I don't think it was a monk parakeet--didn't look that big.
 Then that evening I saw what I think was some sort of oriole--have never seen one around here before. We have a lot of meadowlarks tho, and those have such a wonderful song.

robyn