The pecking of beaks on wood just past the fence of my yard sent me running for my camera. I was surprised to see not one, but two pileated woodpeckers.  They were a bit shy and one of them disappeared around the back of the tree. I had a glimpse of that bird just long enough to guess that it was a sister of the juvenile pileated woodpecker I could see on the opposite side of the tree. Do you see them there on the tree that is farthest to the left? One on each side of the tree; one about a foot below the other, partly hidden by a leaf.

I know her name is Pam, not Paul, because she doesn’t have the red cheek slash that the boys have. Notice how long her toenails are. Great for hanging on and for hopping up and down on the trunk of these Douglas fir trees. Can you do that?

She was finding little bugs in the bark. I watched her eat some as she came across them. I bet they were surprised to be found, thinking they were safe in the maze of coarse bark.

You can watch Pam at work in these two short videos she allowed me to take. It gave me a headache watching her slam her beak into the bark over and over again. If you watch carefully you might see her nibble at a bug she discovered between beak slammings.

In the next one, watch how she hopped around the bark so easily, hanging on with her sharp toenails.

See you around the neighbourhood, Pam, and thanks for helping keep down the invasion of insects.