A Woodpecker is not just a Woodpecker!

Woodpeckers Earl Plato

It’s good to walk Marcy Woods on the growing warmer April day. George Sherk and I walked the Lower Trail to Marcy pond. No residual snow on the path. My goal was to hear the frogs especially the Wood frogs and their quacking sounds.
What a long winter. George and I looked for Coltsfoot, the dandelion-like harbinger of spring. No show yet. The heads of a few Skunk cabbages were showing along the Trail. No Wild leeks, No Spring beauties. No frogs. Not a sound of Spring peepers, Chorus frogs, or my favorite the Wood frogs. It is a slow unfolding spring scenario. However, we heard a few birds. A Purple finch serenaded us at the beginning of the trip. Then we heard the call of the Red-bellied woodpecker. Again and again he called from the ridge above us. This woodpecker , the size of a robin with black and white bars - zebra like - on its wings. Better birders than I can spot the red patch on its lower abdomen. The times I’ve focused on that spot it appeared ‘pink’ to me! George and I heard its ‘chuck’’chuck’ ‘chuck’ descending in pitch then a loud oft repeated ‘churrr.’ We interpreted the calls as “Welcome back to Marcy Woods!” Then we heard the unmistakable giant tapping of the Pileated woodpecker, our largest of all woodpeckers. Once you’ve heard the loud, resonant tappings you won’t forget it. That’s what the remainder of this article is about, the Pileated.
We walked up to the cabin across the bridge and back down the Trail to the car.
Only an hour! Why? Other times we would stop longer to gaze and appreciate the Creator’s hand.
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Have you seen the handiwork of that giant woodpecker? It loves old beech trees so I’ve discovered. From Algonquin Park to Stigilmeier Park in Depew, New York we have seen the enormous cavities in decaying beech trees. As we walked te paths of Stigilmeier with Rob Eberly, Ridgeway naturalist, we came upon a pile of wood chips to our left. There 12-15 feet high in an old beech tree was a rectangular cavity 3-4 feet long and 6-8 inches wide chipped out by a Pileated woodpecker. Impressive. I took a photo and recorded the happening in my log book.
My old writing mentor, the late Ed Teale, recorded on April 12th many years ago the following:
“... this largest woodpecker of the north has littered the ground with wood chips. Eight feet or so above them was a long gash shining out the side of a decaying beech tree. Half a foot deep and three feet long, it reveals where the black, white, and red bird had chiseled into the wood in search of hibernating masses of carpenter ants.
Whenever you see such large cavities in old trees suspect a Pileated around.
Note: Dress properly - long sleeves and long pants and a mosquito spray that has Deet in it. Follow directions. Keep birding but be protected, eh!