Pileated Woodpeckers (male and female) 05-24-26

On Sunday, 05-24-26, I found myself going back out to where the Pileated Woodpeckers have a nest. It was nice out this morning so the lighting conditions would be better than most of the days I’ve gone out, although yesterday was pretty good, too. When I got to the area I checked the nest hole while I got my camera gear ready. I spotted the female go to the nest and go inside. I missed that opportunity. I was now ready to start photographing when I heard the male calling. While looking in his direction the female flew out of the nest hole so I missed the shot. The female flew to a tree close to the nest. She made several calls but I couldn’t see her because of all the leaves. I waited her out when she finally flew my direction and landed nearby, but I still couldn’t see her very well. More waiting…starting out a little slow. I was finally able to get some photos of her flying back to the nest. This was the first time she flew back perpendicular to the nest since I started photographing them. During my time out there today the female stayed close by to the nest tree just flying to different nearby trees. She even flew back to the nest a couple times without going inside. Just like yesterday she stayed pretty close to me and gave me several opportunities to photograph her. I couldn’t let this opportunity pass so I’m posting several images. I heard and saw the male several times before getting a shot of him coming to the nest. These images were taken in Minnesota.

Pileated Woodpecker, Nest and a Wood Duck 05-23-26

Today, 05-23-26, I spent some time with the Pileated Woodpeckers. It was a very interesting day. I heard one of the Pileated Woodpeckers make a call in the area of the nest shortly before I arrived. I didn’t know if it had gone inside the nest or not because I couldn’t see with all the leaves on the trees. I got set-up while checking the nest hole. I heard more calling nearby and it sounded like both adults were off the nest. I walked in the direction of the sounds and spotted them. They were both flying around. It looked like they were playing. I also spotted a Wood Duck couple. Almost got a photo of the male. Walking back to my original spot I waited. The female flew within 10 yards of me and allowed me to take as many photos as I wanted. I had to back up a little since I use a telephoto with a 1.4x converter. While photographing the female Pileated she seemed to became very distracted and kept looking behind her. I thought maybe the male had showed up. Eventually, she flew to the nest. It didn’t take her long before she turned her body around and was now looking outside the hole. She kept looking out for around 10 minutes before I heard a noise. A few minutes earlier I heard the male call so I thought the noise I heard might of been him coming closer. All of a sudden out of no where I heard a loud crashing noise at the nest hole cause by a female Wood Duck who tried to get inside the Pileated Woodpeckers nest while the female Pileated was inside. The Wood Duck bounced off the tree and went backwards. When the Wood Duck flew off the the Pileated flew out of the nest hole onto a tree near me where I got more photos. I know the photos of the Wood Duck aren’t sharp, but I included them to document what I saw today.