Piliated Woodpecker

We have many pileated woodpeckers in our neighborhood near Lake Michigan.  They make huge oval shaped holes in trees while seeking grubs and insects embedded in the wood.

Their voices sound insane and wild.  Their red black and white feathers are striking.  I took this photo through my window.

Pilieated Woodpecker

Today we heard a piliated woodpccker with its wild cry and then saw it making a huge hole in a basswood tree.  We saw a downy woodpecker working on the small upper branches of catelpa trees.  These birds are hungry and need energy to nest. We watched while they worked on the trees. The Great Lakes are alive with birds that stay all winter and those that migrate.  We will be seeing warblers soon and a good time to see them is before leaves pop out on the trees. Then we will see monarch butterflies that migrate along the shorelines of Lake Michigan.

Fish are migrating into the rivers just now: whitefish, steelhead.