As I walked south from my place an hour ago, I heard what I thought was the call of a Northern Flicker. When I finally located the bird, it was a female PILEATED WOODPECKER quietly calling while flapping awkwardly, trying to hang onto flimsy grape vines while eating the wild grapes! The call was not "maniacal" as we often hear from Pileateds, just rather quiet. I wondered why she was calling as she ate grapes.
Glad to see her again, as I have spotted her or a sister a few times this winter. This is good, since yesterday a handsome male Pileated Woodpecker was foraging in my back yard! This also reminded me that we should always leave wild grapevines alive, because they provide good bird food in the dead of winter. I have seen a lot of Robins eating wild grapes this winter! Up in my woods I have some huge (5" in diameter) grape vine "trunks" climbing into the trees. I believe those are actually left over from domestic grape vines someone had planted there on mounds of earth decades ago, now surrounded by 3rd growth woods. Glad that I have left them, even tho they kill a few trees - which also provide bird benefits after a while! Donna Donna Scott Lansing Station Road Lansing, NY East Shore, Cayuga Lake -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
