Nice People and Pileated Woodpeckers

 

 My first trip into Alligator River I saw three people parked on the side of Buffalo City Road with big cameras. I asked them what they were looking at. They told me they had a Pileated Woodpecker nest. I asked if it was alright if I joined them. They said they would be happy if I did.

   When I went on the sand trail behind the little pond at Cape Hatteras I met a couple from Maryland named Tom and Geraldine. I ended up birding with them in the Hatteras area. They told me some spots to go for rare birds. In return, I had my map of Alligator River and I marked it for them on where the bears, alligator, and Pleated Woodpecker was. Geraldine had forgotten to put sunscreen on so she ended up walking ahead of Tom and myself to the car. When she got there, she saw a Gull Billed Tern. She called her husband so he could tell me because she knew it would be a lifer for me. So I rushed ahead and saw the Gull Billed Tern that I only saw because Geraldine was kind enough to let me know.

   While I was looking at "that bear" at Alligator River an older guy from Virginia pulled up. We were talking and I showed him where the Pileated Woodpecker was and he told me where he just saw a mother and a cub. We exchanged other info we had learned about the refuge individually. The older guy said it was great we were working together.

   The point of the last few paragraphs is that birders are good people. They are ready to offer advice and tips very unselfishly. I feel it is a two way street and I am just as willing to help. At Pea Island I helped a couple from Washington State understand why a Least Tern was indeed a Least Tern. It was a lifer for them. 

   With all of that said, the Pileated nest was the first one I had ever seen. I hadn't even gotten a clear photo of an adult Pileated. The birds are habituated to people staying outside of the woods and looking in. Every time I passed by I'd stop for a quick minute. Every time I went by the light had changed. Sometimes it was for the better, other times it was for the worse. When it was good, I took a bunch of photos. It is a weird feeling to go from having absolutely zero good photos of a bird to deleting clear, focused photos because you have ten more just like it.