I’m sure most hunters would agree that when it comes to deer hunting, the most exciting thing to see would be a giant trophy buck standing broadside forty yards away, and that’s especially exciting if that view is through your rifle scope.
Well, as we all know, that scenario doesn’t always happen; however, I have to say that if I’m not seeing the deer I’m after, it’s also very rewarding to be perched in my deer hunting stand and see other wildlife while waiting for that buck to come by.
It’s especially rewarding to catch a glimpse of something we don’t often see, like a bobcat sneaking cautiously through the woods or a fisher heading up a nearby tree.
I once had a bear walk up to the bottom of the tree that I was perched in; fortunately, it decided to head off in another direction.
It’s always very satisfying to see rare wildlife, even when we are not hunting. I remember a time when spotting a bald eagle was pretty exciting and something you were quick to tell everybody about. Today, spotting a bald eagle is pretty common, at least if you are on the lookout and know what to look for. There is hardly a week that goes by that I don’t see a bald eagle somewhere in my daily travels. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were pulling out of the Sheetz parking lot in Muncy when we spotted two mature bald eagles perched in a sycamore tree right along Muncy Creek.
When it comes to spotting rarely seen wildlife, I’m pretty confident I can identify the furry critters, but I’m not nearly as confident about the feathered critters. There are a number of birds out there that I am not all that familiar with, and I have difficulty identifying them. Fortunately, I’ve got woodpeckers pretty well under control, and I recently spotted one that I seldom ever see — a Pileated Woodpecker.
The Pileated Woodpecker is our largest woodpecker, at about the size of a crow. Pileated Woodpeckers are less often seen than many of our other woodpeckers, but much of that is because they tend to live and hunt in the deep woods and are often silent.
The Pileated Woodpecker is a year-round resident of Pennsylvania.
While primarily a forest bird, they appear to be adapting somewhat more to civilization, and they are showing up now even in the outskirts of some towns and large cities.
The Pileated Woodpecker is black with white neck stripes and a prominent red cap. Both the male and the female have a bright red crest, but the female’s forehead is black. Another interesting characteristic that may indicate its presence is that when digging in trees, it leaves large oval or oblong holes.
Since I’m a wildlife artist, when I recently saw that Pileated Woodpecker, I decided to do a small painting of it, and that’s what accompanies this article.
Well, here’s hoping you get to see that big buck come deer season, but keep your eye out for some of those other interesting and less obvious critters as well.
