Hi everyone,



I had a unique experience with a Pileated Woodpecker this morning.? We have two suet feeders in the yard, maybe 60 feet apart.? I was out in the yard on 'dog scoop duty' and concentrating on that when I heard a whoosh and felt a distinct rush of wind by my right ear.? It was close enough and strong enough that I was startled and jumped.? The source of the startle was a male Pileated Woodpecker that had flown very close to my head.? My first thought was to wonder why I would get dive-bombed by a Pileated since there is certainly no nest in the immediate vicinity of our yard, although we do get fairly regular visits from this particular bird (presumably it's the same one anyway given they are territorial).? As it turned out, Trisha was at the upstairs window watching the birds when this near-miss occurred.? To her, it looked like the bird was so focused on flying from suet feeder A to suet feeder B that it simply went in a straight line and I just happened to be almost on a collision course.? She said the bird's wing came within an inch of my head.? The woodpecker ignored me while it was feeding, even though I had to walk within fifteen feet of it to go back into the house.? Whatever caused the situation, I'm glad it missed - they're big enough to hurt!? Maybe this species is so used to flying through thick woods and barely skirting trees that I was viewed as just another stump to miss by a small but adequate margin - this theory would be supported by the fact that there probably are some people who ?do think my head is made of wood...!?



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net