Stalking a Pileated Woodpecker, O Deer!

The morning was clear and the air was still over the lake, just before sunrise:





A female Belted Kingfisher flew by. The light was poor but I tried to bring the photo back to life:



The shadows lengthened:



On our local wetlands we occasionally hear, but seldom see, my favorite woodpecker, the crow-sized Pileated Woodpecker. For two days in a row, just after sunrise, as I was watching for eagles on the peninsula on the lake in the wetlands I spotted two. 

The Pileateds were roosting on a dead pine that protruded high above the densely packed Melaleucas, about 0.3 miles (~480 meters) to the north of my position. Yesterday they simply disappeared before I approached about halfway. This morning one stayed high in the tree as I closed the distance.



Although I was out in the middle of the gravel road, in full view, I walked slowly without swinging my arms, hoping the woodpecker would stay in place. 

Suddenly an adult female White-tailed Deer moved in from among the shrubs that bordered a small field on my right. I stopped and she stared at me, trying to identify me.



I too stopped, and waited while one, then another yearling appeared from the shrubbery: 



The third deer had an opaque cornea and obviously was partially blind:



She tilted her head to look at me with her good eye:



I edged to the right, hoping that if the deer fled they would pass right in front of me. They did move in the direction of the guard rail that will one day border the temporarily abandoned and unfinished highway.



The deer then took turns jumping over the rail! (If the video does not appear in the space below CLICK HERE)

After getting great shots of them jumping, I continued to move towards the woodpecker. It was still in the tree, a male, as evidenced by the red line over his "mustache." Suddenly he seemed to realize that I was looking at him and he took flight.

 



Then I heard the typical slow and loud drumming and I knew it was from their favorite site, an older power pole, so I crept towards it. Sure enough the male was there. I could not get a clear shot as he was partly obscured by the wires. He did not stay long.



On my way home, only one door from the house, two more woodpeckers provided a splendid bonus photo-op! This is the male Red-bellied Woodpecker on a tree next to the sidewalk, showing all possible views of his head:







Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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Prairie Warbler Hunting

Call me lazy, but I like to finish my morning bird walk with a visit to my favorite "sit spot" just on the west side of the 196th Avenue levee, that runs along the canal across from our subdivision.  

These are views along the levee, looking  to the south:






The "sit spot"is too moist underfoot to actually sit, and during the wet season it is flooded to a foot or more, when I cannot descend all the way down the slope. Its advantage over other places is the open area in front, an unintended result of the "wreckreationalists" performing tight circles in the mud with their off-road vehicles. This provides greater sight distance than most places along the levee path, where lack of maintenance has allowed exotic elephant grass to form an opaque 8 foot wall.

This is the sit spot as the water was receding in late September:



Events in nature are subject to the laws of place, time and probability. We can control the where and when, and the better we understand the cycles of sun and season, the more likely our expectations will be realized. In my sit spot, depending upon the time of day and season, certain events are highly unlikely. Rather than trying to predict what I will see, I am open to anything. Such was the case this morning.

After a wait of several minutes to undo some of the disturbance I created by entering this quiet and shady place, it gradually came alive. Who knows how many eyes were fixed on me? Sixty feet away, in a space between the treetops, a Prairie Warbler appeared, looking very alert. 

Maybe he sees me:



No. He is on a hunt. He sees the prey:



He seizes the prey:



He squeezes the prey:





He swallows the prey, a big juicy spider!