Not only was the sun shining after many, many days of rain, but also I was gifted with a very close sighting of a pileated woodpecker. Usually they are high in the trees, but this one was near the ground where I could get a good look at him. I watched for about fifteen minutes. The attempt to photograph him with my camera phone was unsuccessful as the image turned out very small.
I checked my bird book when I got home to positively identify the woodpecker. How fitting that the book described the pileated woodpecker as a spectacular, black, crow-sized woodpecker with a red crest!
Ebony, my dog, and I were on the Chehalis Western Trail in Olympia, Washington where this sighting took place. It is one of our favorite places to walk.
