The Cascades: Worcester, MA (12/19)

After I passed the airport, I headed over to Boynton Park. It was early afternoon and I wanted to get a quick walk in before the sun went down. I started up the main road and at the top of the hill I took a side path into the Greater Worcester Land Trust's property (The Cascades). I looked around a bit in the vernal pool area but there wasn't much to see. The only bird that I heard was a White-breasted Nuthatch.

So, I started back down the hill walking thru the woods instead of along the road. When I got to the bottom of the hill I heard the knocking of a woodpecker. As I went to investigate I heard another woodpecker on the opposite side of the trail. After a few seconds of scanning the bare trees I finally found the bird. It was a Pileated Woodpecker and it was relatively close. So close, in fact, that I attempted to take some pictures. But this was very difficult since the bird was foraging and he didn't stay put in one place for very long before moving on to the next tree. So, while my best photo isn't that great, at least you can tell its a Pileated.

After 10 minutes or so of clumsily chasing the bird thru the forest, it finally had enough of me. It let out that distinctively Pileated call. This was echoed by the second bird and both of them flew off towards the road. I never found them again.

So, even though I only had two species on my walk, it was worth my time. Pileated Woodpeckers are one of my favorite species and you don't often get good looks at them. Plus, trying to photograph this bird really demonstrated to me how difficult it will be to get photos of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas/Florida.

This encounter got me motivated to add more photos of Pileated Woodpecker sign to my "Animal Tracks and Sign" site. These birds can really do some damage. Also, I did a quick search of PBase and I found an artist with some really great shots of Pileated Woodpeckers for anyone who doesn't know what they actually look like.