A Pair of Pileateds

I apologize for the quality of the pics, but these Pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) have been hard for me to find within camera range and even harder to get a clear shot. I spotted this pair at the DeGray Lake marina and this was the best I could get out of the dozens of pictures I took. Pine tree branches just kept coming between me and the birds. Since these guys are year round residents and usually will stake out and defend their territory, maybe I will get some better shots of this pair at a later date.

With the exception of the ivory-billed, these woodpeckers are the largest North American woodpeckers. The pileated woodpecker almost disappeared with the clearing of the eastern forests, but is slowly and steadily increasing in all their native states with the exception of Arkansas according to the experts. This I can believe because I can always remember these birds being quite common when I was growing up, but they can be rather hard to find now.