An Urban Pileated Woodpecker Calls Burlington, Vt. Home

As I was walking through City Hall Park in downtown Burlington, Vermont yesterday, I approached a sugar maple that was past its better days. It was half dead, and I think the city is going to take it down.

This pileated woodpecker made
a nice hole in this tree in a downtown Burlington, Vt.

I passed under the tree and suddenly, wood chips rained down on me. I stopped, and heard a tap, tap, tap overhead. I looked up and saw the fellow pictured in this post: A pileated woodpecker.

They're usually in forests, pecking away at rotting trees, looking for their favorite foods, such as carpenter ants. I guess this guy found what he was looking for in a city park.

I think I was the only one who noticed him. Everybody else in the park was talking to each other, or on cell phones, or sitting on benches soaking in some sun. Nobody even seemed to notice as I grabbed my camera aimed up, and took a portrait of my new friend.