My Bucket List (sightings)

I finally get to cross something off my Bucket List of Things I'd like to see.  I was sure I'd have to trek up through the woods to see a pileated woodpecker.  The guys have seen one during hunting season but due to the fact that I neither hunt nor hike, chances of me being in the woods near their sighting area were slim to NFW. Just after supper the other night, Jess exclaimed, "there's a huge woodpecker at the suet feeder!"  I moved to peek thinking it was the red bellied woodpecker who has frequented the suet on occasion.  NOPE!  It was Pete the Pileated Woodpecker and he was huge.  He was wrapped around the suet cage and hung off the bottom too... No way would he fit entirely on the suet holder.  I went for my nearest camera which was my cell phone and snapped a quick photo as he took off like a 747.  Lousy picture :-(  Hoping he'd be back, I sat and waited...duh.....Jess assured me he would be back now that he knew where to get some yummy peanut butter suet.  Yesterday morning, she, as my trusty Cornell bird book educated me, was back for a morning snack.  I had placed my good camera next to the door so I would be ready.  She did fly away but to a very near tree where I had a bird's eye view (what else). She is at least 11-12 inches long and quite a sight. The longest pecker I had ever seen (sad but true). She afforded me about 10 minutes of priceless birdwatching and time to photograph her morning ritual of pecking and pilfering for bugs... both in the tree and on her feathery torso.  Doesn't take much to amuse me in my old age.  I'm still waiting for a loon sighting and I'd really like to photograph a bear. We had one visit once but he/she only left their paw prints, evidence of her feeder mayhem and her resting place to devour the seed and nectar placed there for my feathered friends. I just never know what critter or bird might visit me next...I just know that I love it here!!