This past weekend I decided to head out to the Nature Center at Kensington MetroPark in Milford, Michigan. Taking into consideration that nesting season is upon us, I felt a sense of abundant wildlife frolicking through the greener pastures and nearby woodlands. My wife decided to accompany me on this day not aware her razor-sharp vision would prove invaluable. After trekking the woodlands for two hours while observing nature’s beauty and not much else, it became quite apparent that there were no great encounters in store for us today. As we ventured back ready to pack it in, my wife glanced 100 feet up into a tree to notice an outline of what appeared to be an extremely rare discovery, a Pileated Woodpecker buried behind numerous branches. After taking countless unusable pictures due to several obstructions and poor lighting conditions, we began to simply observe the behavior of this captivating creature. Fifteen minutes later, the woodpecker began flying from tree to tree at considerably lower distances to become easily visible. After realizing how fortunate we were to locate this rare beauty so close to home, we relentlessly began pursuing the bird through the park, scampering through bushes, broken branches, unstable ground in order to capture one great memory. The woodpecker finally came to rest nearby in it’s search for Carpenter Ants and beetle larvae. I managed to get a couple shots of which this is by far my favorite. I then spent some time simply observing this amazing bird chiseling out cavities in its unending search for ants and grubs. As we drove home, we realized what an amazing day this was and how fortunate we were to observe a rare beauty in action.
