Last weekend as he washed breakfast dishes, Mom's Garden Buddy spotted two Pileated Woodpeckers* visiting the ash tree off the deck, where suet feeders hang during the winter. One flew off before Mom could grab the camera, but she managed to get a couple of nice shots of this one through the kitchen window.
Being rather shy birds who don't often venture far from the edge of the woods, they're more often heard than seen. Kudos, and thanks to Mom for sharing these photos, and to her Garden Buddy for being so observant!
*Writing the brief post to accompany Mom's photos, I once again became curious about capitalization of common names of birds. For example, I've seen Pileated Woodpecker, Pileated woodpecker, and pileated woodpecker in various reference materials in the past. I wondered if there was a definitive 'rule' on proper capitalization of common bird names, and this time I decided to check it out. When in doubt, look it up in a dictionary, right? In that case, the correct capitalization is no capitalization - pileated woodpecker.
It turns out this can be a rather controversial subject among ornithologists. If you're curious about the controversy, see here, and here, for examples of the many articles I found on this subject. What was the conclusion after spending more time than I'll admit researching this matter? Nothing definitive, only more evidence that I am indeed a geek. Or is it Geek. . . !?
