On 6/16/2014 11:10 PM, Janet Bostwick wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Jun 2014 20:31:01 -0400, jmcquown >
> wrote:
> snip
>>
>> http://i57.tinypic.com/11rso5e.jpg
>>
>> It's a pileated woodpecker. Looks like it got stuck in the 1980's with
>> a punk hair-do.
>>
>> Jill
> Aren't they huge! The only time I have ever seen one was in TN. They
> look prehistoric. Amazing looking things. You're so lucky to have
> such a special bird around.

That picture doesn't do it justice (taken through a window). Yep,
they're big birds! It's funny, I had never seen one around here before.

I didn't know they were around until someone told me so. There was a
big debate about whether or not to allow a cell tower to be constructed
on Dataw. (Overwhelming NO vote on that one, thanks!) One guy said the
area where they proposed erecting the tower would not only displace the
great blue herons who nest on the ground by the water but also the
pileated woodpeckers. (They'd have razed @ 2900 square feet for the
tower and the generator.) I thought hmmm, I've never seen a pileated
woodpecker. Practically the next day I looked up and I'll be darned,
there it was. :-D

> P.S. Last Saturday we had a cow in our court. Have absolutely no
> idea where it came from. We called 911 off and on to let the police
> know which way the animal was going so they could wrangle it until
> Fish and Game got here with a trailer. It will have been returned to
> owner because it was both branded and had a registered ear tag. I
> suppose it found a way down from grazing on the Bureau of Land
> Management land in the foothills the same way the moose found its way
> down to the golf course.
> Janet US
>
Now that would be odd! I wonder how the cow got out? I don't remember
where you live (if I ever knew). Moose are wild critters so that's sort
of understandable. A branded cow? Not so much.

Jill