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Fw: Pileated Woodpecker



While it is possible to call up woodpeckers, such as with Eastern
Screech-Owl calls or Barred Owl calls, this is not really necessary in so
good a woodpecker area as North and South Carolina. Areas such as the
Beidler Forest or Congaree Swamp National Monument have large numbers of
woodpeckers year round, and they are very conspicuous.

This spring Dennis Forsythe and I found seven species of woodpeckers
(Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, Red-cockaded, Pileated, and Northern
Flicker) at one stop in the Sandhills State Forest in Chesterfield County,
SC, near McBee. This is not too unusual in South Carolina, though the
Red-cockaded Woodpecker is very local, and the Hairy Woodpecker can be tough
to find in areas where there are Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Here in the
southeastern US there is really no reason to harass woodpeckers by trying to
call them up. Go to a good spot, sit, and wait.

Robin Carter
Columbia, SC
rcarter@sc.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <Code3inSC@aol.com>
To: <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2001 10:24 PM
Subject: Pileated Woodpecker


> Hello birders.
>
> First of all, I would like to thank all of you who contacted me with
advice
> for my quest to photograph the painted bunting. I have been making routine
> stops at Pickney Island (between Hilton Head and the mainland) and I have
a
> trip planned to Skidaway Island, GA. It's been interesting.
>
> On my last outing to Pickney Island I was able to photograph a Green Heron
as
> it was poised motionless on a small branch protruding from the water. Nice
> looking bird. Birds of the Carolinas has it listed as "common" but I don't
> recall seeing one on Hilton Head before. Of course, I'm relatively new to
the
> hobby, so I might not have noticed before.
>
> On to new business. I have always liked the Pileated Woodpecker. It's rare
> that I catch a glimpse, so it's always special when one comes around the
fire
> station. Has anyone on the list ever tried using a woodpecker call to
attract
> one? I was reading about the Ivory Billed Woodpecker this week, and it
looks
> like many of the scientists who searched for the bird used the Cornell
> recording. I found out yesterday that turkey hunters use a Pileated
> Woodpecker call to hunt turkeys. Apparently the turkeys answer it. Has
anyone
> ever used one to call up a woodpecker? Is there any reason I shouldn't try
it?
>
> I thank you in advance.
>
> Tom Bouthillet
> Hilton Head Island, SC
>