Walkway Over the Hudson 5/5--Pileated Woodpecker

Photo: Shari Zirlin

We spent the weekend visiting friends in Montgomery, New York, and while birding wasn't the focus of the visit, we did see some interesting birds in a "by the way" kind of fashion.

We spent some time walking around Montgomery, a neat little village in Orange County, crossed the Hudson to tour the Vanderbilt Mansion grounds in Dutchess County (just the grounds--I always find the furnishings of the rich dreary beyond description) and then crossed back over into Ulster County to walk most of the length of the old Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge, an old railroad bridge repurposed into a bike trail/walkway. The sign to the left is one of two on each end of the bridge. As we were approaching the bridge I could see that the railings were relatively low and naturally my thoughts turned to what an attractive nuisance the bridge could be in terms of suicides. Looking at the signs made me think that perhaps they'd be better situated in the middle of the bridge, not the ends where one could rush right by the sign while rushing to one's demise. I like the euphemism of "Mental Health Emergency." If we don't say what the phone is really for, maybe we won't give anyone any ideas.

However, the point of this post is the FOY Pileated Woodpecker we found near the parking lot for the bridge. We first heard it calling from a stand of trees and my first impression was "flicker." But then a large woodpecker flew out, much larger than a flicker, without the tell-tale flicker white rump and with white under the wings. Playing a recording of a Pileated Woodpecker on Shari's iPad convinced us that what we'd heard and then seen was indeed North America's largest woodpecker, now that it has been pretty much established that the Ivory Woodpecker is extinct.

The list for May 5:

Canada Goose	VM
Double-crested Cormorant	WOH
Great Blue Heron	VM
Red-tailed Hawk	VM
Ring-billed Gull	WOH
Rock Pigeon	WOH
Mourning Dove	WOH
Chimney Swift	M
Red-bellied Woodpecker	VM
Northern Flicker	VM
Pileated Woodpecker	WOH
Eastern Phoebe	VM
Eastern Kingbird	VM
Blue Jay	M
American Crow	M
Tufted Titmouse	M
Eastern Bluebird	VM
Wood Thrush	VM
American Robin	M
Gray Catbird	M
European Starling	M
Yellow-rumped Warbler	VM
Chipping Sparrow	VM
Northern Cardinal	VM
House Finch	M
American Goldfinch	VM
House Sparrow	M

   Key: M-Montgomery
            VM-Vanderbilt Mansion
            WOH-Walkway over the Hudson