Once young birds are fledged, it's fun to watch them following their parents around, learning about foraging and quivering with excitement as they anticipate each morsel of food that comes their way.
This male pileated woodpecker (male because he has a red stripe from his beak to his neck, where the females have a black stripe) was looking for a likely spot, hoping to find some beetles, grubs or carpenter ants to eat, flying from tree to tree and listening for the sound of movement under the bark, or tapping to see whether there was a hollow sound or a flurry of activity to alert him to a meal-in-waiting. Woodpeckers have very acute hearing and make good use of it to hunt for snacks.
Everywhere dad went, junior followed close behind, hoping for more delicious bugs and learning how the whole process works. I enjoyed seeing them making their way around each tree and moving on to the next likely spot.
I have always loved pileated woodpeckers. They're one of the biggest woodpeckers out there and they look so very prehistoric. It's almost like seeing a (very) small pterodactyl flying through the forest.
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