Subject: [Tweeters] Lewis Woodpecker in Capitol Forest, perhaps?
Date: Jun 5 17:41:39 2011
From: Kelly McAllister - mcallisters4 at comcast.net


I wish I could be absolutely certain about seeing a Lewis's Woodpecker along
the Waddell Loop trail, in the Capitol Forest, today. When I first saw it
flying across the trail, I put my binoculars on it and could see red on much
of the head. I thought "Red-breasted Sapsucker". It went into a patch of
leave trees in the large DNR clearcut on the west side of the trail. It
wasn't on the side of any of the trees like I would have expected for a
sapsucker. I saw it fly out, in flycatcher mode, each time returning to the
canopy high in this patch of perhaps 6 or 8 Douglas-fir trees. It landed in
the canopy and was very difficult to find there. When it flew out, in
flycatcher mode, I couldn't see much detail but I did note several tail
feathers that projected well past the rest. I also felt that the general
shape of the bird made it a Lewis's Woodpecker, sort of heavy on wings and
foreshortened on body. I waited some time for a better view but the last
view I got was of it flying over Waddell Creek and out of sight to the east.




Capitol forest is getting well into a new logging rotation and the area
around Waddell Creek is now heavily logged (The blooming forbs are quite
wonderful, actually). But, there are regular patches of trees left standing
in the middle of clearcut areas. I think, from what I know of Lewis's
Woodpeckers, that this condition is probably pretty attractive.



I wish I could have had the definitive view of this woodpecker. My wife was
riding her horse, about a half hour ahead of me. When I got to the base
camp, she mentioned seeing a red-headed woodpecker of some kind and I asked
her if it was a Red-breasted Sapsucker which we often see in our backyard.
She said, "Definitely not". When I asked her about body color, she said,
"Plain".



Kelly McAllister

Olympia, Washington