[EBB Sightings] Pileated Woodpecker heard in Redwood Park

Redwood Regional Park
December 16, 2005

This morning at 11:15 a.m. Marsha Feinland and I heard a Pileated 
Woodpecker hammering and then calling, then a pause, followed by drumming 
and then calling. We were on the northmost segment of the Phillips Loop and 
it was downslope from us. Three other birders were on East Ridge and heard 
it at the same time.

We were on Phillips because we had gone to look for the bird along East 
Ridge, where we ran into the people who had seen it Tuesday. They confirmed 
which snag it had been in, and that markings on a nearby snag had not been 
there on Tuesday. They saw the bird well enough to pick out the red facial 
stripe of a male PIWO. These snags are in an open area to the right of the 
East Ridge Trail as you travel south between the Eucalyptus Trail and the 
bench looking out over the canyon. They're very close to the trail.

Since there wasn't any sign from East Ridge, we decided to loop over 
Phillips to see if we could see anything from downhill. We ran into a 
dogwalker who said he had heard it on Wednesday along the Phillips. After 
we heard the bird calling downslope, we went back to the parking lot and 
made a pass around the Stream Trail and up Eucalyptus, but to no avail.

Tom Condit


Tom Condit
tomcondit at igc.org