Thursday is Woodpecker day

Well, i saw all the regular woodpeckers this morning, including the Pileated woodpecker, which i initially thought was a turkey!    Juliette and i were on a walk when she spied the bird on the ground at the base of a tree.  As it flew off i realized what it was.  We continued our walk, and the bird returned to continue to dismantle the base of the tree.  I have been watching the woodpeckers do this digging at the base of several dead trees. Ants? termites? definitely food, not nesting material.

The Pileated is the 2nd largest woodpecker around.    (Ivory billed is the largest but might be extinct, although i always here there are one or 2 left.  The pileated seems about the size of a duck.

So we have Downy, Hairy, Red bellied, yellow shafted flicker (which is in the woodpecker family) and pileated.  I always wondered what the flicker was doing on the ground. turns out that he/she digs up ant hills for food.  every one has a job, birds included.

 Don;t forget to click on the photo to see a larger version. also try to  zoom in on the dead tree.

pileated woodpecker on dead tree.

note:
here is a link to the local Wild Birds shop Website, who posted & enlarge my photo.
http://buckingham.wbu.com/content/show/18099