Male Pileated Woodpecker

This bird is the largest of the remaining American woodpeckers (the larger Ivory Bills are thought to be extinct). The Pileated adult is about as large as an adult chicken, and loves carpenter ants. It seems to be the bird that Woody Woodpecker was modeled after, with the bright red topknot, and the unique call. Blue Sawtooth Studio is the occasional stopover for a couple, whose banging search for a meal raises a racket, with pine bark flying everywhere. The pair have become surprisingly quite unaffected by my presence, which is humbling.