Hi Everyone, The area that has been so good for woodpeckers in Forest Hill Park the last couple of years remains good. This afternoon (Saturday), Beth and I had a calling Pileated that later flew over and landed in a nearby tree. Last weekend, with a couple more friends, we had some very good looks at one or two Pileateds that flew around us and called. Today, we also got very good looks at a Red-headed Woodpecker in the same area. Aside from these two birds, today was very slow‹lots of American Robins, lots of Song Sparrows, and a couple of Chipping Sparrows. So here come the questions: When we were watching the Red-headed Woodpecker, we saw that it was standing on a branch from which the bark had been stripped along a major section‹the bird was apparently looking for insects or larvae in the stripped area. Looking around, we saw a number of trees that showed a lot of stripped bark, mostly on branches, but in one case, most of a trunk. We¹re used to seeing Pileateds stripping bark from large dead or dying trees. But these were young trees‹the trunks were no more than a few inches in diameter. Of course, it¹s possible that they are trees with a lot of insects inside, that they are not healthy‹we couldn¹t tell, since they haven¹t started to leaf out. The questions are: Have people seen Pileateds stripping young, smaller, healthy-looking trees? And have you seen Red-headeds feeding in areas stripped by Pileateds? And, I might add, has anyone seen Red-headeds stripping bark themselves? Thanks. For those interested in this good woodpecker area (in the summer, we¹ve had five species in a half-hour), it¹s in Forest Hill Park, which is in Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County. The area in question is easily reached by going in the entrance to the park on Forest Hill Blvd just northeast of Terrace. You can park in the lot there, then walk through the playground area and into the park‹once the picnic area is behind you, you¹re there. Best wishes, Steve Cagan Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga County -------------------------------------------- Steve Cagan, photographer [log in to unmask] www.stevecagan.com www.pbase.com/stevecagan www.stevecagan.blogspot.com 216-932-2753 (USA) ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]