# Woody Woodpecker spotted in Burnaby Central Park!?!



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol sorry about the title , was just havin' some fun. Needed something catchy and it just seemed so right :bigsmile:So I went to Central Park today. Didn't get to see the snakehead, but wow there is some monster Koi & carp in there! Anyway, as I was riding though I came across Woody pounding his beak into an old tree. Sounded like an axe hacking away at it lol. This is a Pileated Woodpecker . You don't get to see them very often and I was really surprised I was able to get within 4-5' of him. Everything was good until a crowd started gathering behind me then kids on bikes sliding thru the gravel didn't help either. Luckily I was closest and had a few minutes to myself before all the commotion scared him off. Thought I'd share it here along with a few other quick shots from the ride. Hope you enjoy.



















































Dunno why, but I find it really cool when threes grow on old stumps. These appear to be growing from what appears to be an old stump from one big tree


































must have been a biggg tree....pretty big stump:


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

i love pilieated woodpeckers!! theres a bucnh that live in the greenbelt next to my home, and you can often hear them pecking away. thanks for sharing!


and chase away those invasive black (eastern gray squirrels).


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Very cool pictures, we have a few of these guys out our way in Langley, but it's not to common to see them close up, great shots. Thanks for sharing!


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks for sharing! Very cool. Your stump pics are very nice. More people need to enjoy nature. My favourite thing finding secret shortcuts and trails


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

I for one am outraged. Won't be long now until the government starts banning woodpeckers from all the trees. Have you watched the old Woody Woodpecker programs? Do you know what they're capable of? Quips? Cheeky comments? They're called 'tree monsters', true story. Someone go net that bird now, before it causes any more damage to the trees in that park.

Lol now that I've worked all the sarcasms out of my system I wanted to say thanks for sharing, and another big thanks for giving me a laugh after the whole snakehead incident.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Awesome. Central Park is one of our favourite spots for taking Felicia to so now we have another creature to keep an eye out for. The other day we spotted a young adult (very skinny) coyote in the park, by the big carp pond near the middle of the park, just standing there watching us. Not afraid of people at all.

Anthony


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Algae Beater said:


> i love pilieated woodpeckers!! theres a bucnh that live in the greenbelt next to my home, and you can often hear them pecking away. thanks for sharing!
> and chase away those invasive black (eastern gray squirrels).


My pleasure Kevin, they are cool for sure! This guy was around 15" tall. As for the Squirrels..they are way too cute except for the mange lol



The Guy said:


> Very cool pictures, we have a few of these guys out our way in Langley, but it's not to common to see them close up, great shots. Thanks for sharing!


Thanks and my pleasure Laurie! Probably could have gotten even closer as he was pretty content on finding all the pine beetles that tree had to offer. But the growing crowd behind me scared it off.



April said:


> Thanks for sharing! Very cool. Your stump pics are very nice. More people need to enjoy nature. My favourite thing finding secret shortcuts and trails


My pleasure & thanks April! I totally agree....people really need to enjoy the beauty has nature has to offer. The trees and stumps have always fascinated me and I think I may end up taking more pix of the unusual ones I come across. I'm the same way about finding trails and shortcuts, always been the adventurous type....and ya never know what you going to find :bigsmile:



DBam said:


> I for one am outraged. Won't be long now until the government starts banning woodpeckers from all the trees. Have you watched the old Woody Woodpecker programs? Do you know what they're capable of? Quips? Cheeky comments? They're called 'tree monsters', true story. Someone go net that bird now, before it causes any more damage to the trees in that park.
> 
> Lol now that I've worked all the sarcasms out of my system I wanted to say thanks for sharing, and another big thanks for giving me a laugh after the whole snakehead incident.


lol Dave, thanks for the amusing post :bigsmile: And my pleasure! I thought the snakehead incident needed a little relief too



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Awesome. Central Park is one of our favourite spots for taking Felicia to so now we have another creature to keep an eye out for. The other day we spotted a young adult (very skinny) coyote in the park, by the big carp pond near the middle of the park, just standing there watching us. Not afraid of people at all.
> 
> Anthony


 Though I really had no sense of where I was there lol I probably wasn't far from that area Anthony. Glad I gave you another cool creature to look out for. You will most likely hear it before you see it as they are very loud when pecking on a tree. I think I seen a glimpse of that coyote and just thought it was a skinny dog lol Hope you do get to see the woodpecker, I'm sure Felicia will enjoy it too :bigsmile:


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Pileateds are very cool birds. We had a big male chowing down on our suet feeder on Sunday morning, and I think it's one of a mated pair living in the neighbourhood. They're huge compared to other woodpeckers. We've got a family of flickers living around our place, and this guy was easily 2.5x their size. My only beef with them is that the males like to bang on things that make noise during the mating season...like our neighbours' metal chimney stack, or the metal covering the top of the hydro pole, or somebody's weather vane....the louder the better.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

can you imagine that root system, thats growing off that stump, look sooooo good in a tank,


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

In winter they sometimes come to my feeder for the suet. Very cool seeing them a foot away from the window.

I hope he stays away from the snakehead pond, or he'll be an ex-woodpecker.


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Those are really impressive birds, used to see them when I went camping here on the Island. There is/was a similar woodpecker in the states but has been extinct since early in the last century. Thanks for taking trhe time to post.


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