I've lived with pileated woodpeckers for decades. Really fun to see them flying around. Many years ago, they went after a several years old stump. They just did it again, so knowing now that this doesn't happen often, I let it get going good and took a few pics.

So here you go, my pileated stump - it'll be gone if it follows the pattern of the older one. The stump is ~20" diameter, the debris field is at least 5' wide I'd say.

The bird in this picture must be hiding behind the stump, or it's camouflaged really well because I can't find it. :clap:

How about a few shots of those beautiful, and really huge for a woodpecker, birds working away on the stump?

Jim.

I don't know how many live Cherry trees in our woods have been bored to death by these big peckers. It's a lot. We have many dead Elm and Ash to chew on, but no, they choose the expensive Cherry. Softer for sure and better tasting I suppose.

Must be some good* bugs in that stump.

(Good*, as opposed to the bugs found in MS software ;-).)

I'd love to get a picture of one, but they're as skittish as a chickadee. Seems odd at first, they're so big and impressive.

That cherry tree thing ( I hate them btw, weak and you can't even use them in a fireplace after they fall) sounded weird so I googled it. Didn't learn anything, but that they do like fruit, so maybe they're attracted to the fruit and then find the bugs (their main diet.) Less than 20% of food comes from live trees. Or maybe the bugs like the sap, so the birds figured that out :P

The stump in your picture looks like what a dead Cherry tree looks like. Note, I am referring to Wild Cherry trees, not the pie making variety.

I read that first as pixelated woodpeckers. Need to upgrade to those new high definition woodpeckers! :lol: