Just when I least expected it…

I know I told you that I wouldn’t have time to go looking for wildlife on this trip, but there I was, minding my own business, and simply stepping outside to greet my brother and his son, who had come over to help pack up my folks’ worldly possessions, and I noticed a bird in the woods behind them because it seemed large and swooped down near the base of a big tree, which suggested a tantalizing possibility. So, I quickly said, “hi, come on in,” and ran inside myself to grab my camera and my binoculars.

Once I had my gear, I started scanning the woods, and the first bird I found was this little downy woodpecker. Sure, I’ve shown you dozens of downy woodpecker pictures that are better than this, but I’m telling a story here, so bear with me.

Then another bird moved, and this one was a little bigger, but it was “just” a northern flicker. They’ve been gone from Estabrook for the winter since October, but are still hanging out in Connecticut, and that’s not the bird I’m looking for, either.

A couple of red-bellied woodpeckers stopped in, and this one at least posed against the pretty blue sky, but they were still not who I was hoping to find.

Finally, one more woodpecker poked its head out into the open, and it was indeed a big bird low on the side of a tree. For those of you who don’t recognize that face, this is a pileated woodpecker, “one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent [and] nearly the size of a crow.” Be still my heart.

They have been reported in Estabrook, but I haven’t seen one there yet, and I have seen only one in all of Wisconsin, so far. But here’s one right in my folks’ backyard. It moved around a bit, and it did let me have a little better look, but then it moved on to check the trees closer to my sister’s house.

Well, the movers are coming this morning, and if things go well, we’ll be sleeping under a new roof tonight, so wish us luck.