Blue Moon’s Pileated Woodpeckers & Rocket Bat House

[Blue Moon]

A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers raised their brood high above the ground in a standing dead pine near Athens Texas. The adults made three large holes to access their nest. The dead pine they selected is approximately 43 years old and very much on its last leg with no remaining limbs and barely any lower bark left. It’s surrounded by healthy pines of the same vintage.

Far too much standing dead timber has been cleared unnecessarily over the years. Since we’re implementing a wildlife management plan our goal is to keep the property as native as possible including leaving standing dead timber so that woodpeckers will have nesting refuge as they often prefer the tallest standing dead pines when selecting timber to build their nest.

The brood this year consisted of a male and female featured below. On Saturday 1 May they joined the adult female on the nearest limb and took wing for the first time abandoning their nest leaving it for another species to occupy.

Native shelter is part of our management plan as mentioned above but also includes developing and maintaining shelter. Recently along with many bird chalets and wood duck houses, I also tackled the task of building a two-chamber rocket bat house designed by Bat Conservation International. While it’s a fairly simple design, due to over 1300 horizontal, 1/16 inch deep cuts that allow the bats to roost inside the double chamber design, it takes a fair amount of time to construct if you old school the roost cuts yourself instead of using plastic mesh. Based on reported success rates of the design I hope it ends up being worth the extra effort.

For those considering building a Rocket Bat House the link features more construction photos.

If you decide to tackle the project, the University of Nebraska has the best plans that I found available online for the 2-chamber Rocket Bat House from Bat Conservation International.

Nothing special, just a few recent images of visitors to our refuge -

[houtex01]

Great reading about your Pileated Woodpeckers...I also followed the nesting of a pair in my area (posted several threads on this forum). The pine tree that mine nested in sounds almost identical to the one you described plus it is surrounded by healthy pine trees. Nice pictures...

Ron

[Blue Moon]

Originally Posted by houtex01

Great reading about your Pileated Woodpeckers...I also followed the nesting of a pair in my area (posted several threads on this forum). The pine tree that mine nested in sounds almost identical to the one you described plus it is surrounded by healthy pine trees. Nice pictures...

Ron

Ron thanks for the kudos and apologies for missing your post. When I logged in this week I noticed that it had been nearly six months since my last visit to TPF.

Reflecting on my last log-in date made me realize how focused I’ve been on life’s demands as well as one’s compulsive behavior. Hopefully soon I’ll get some breathing room and have a chance to enjoy the inspirational images that so many talented members of the tribe contribute.

The tree description you mentioned was a clue for anyone chasing big woodpeckers as well as food for thought for any land owners that routinely remove standing dead timber. In my own chase I had no trouble locating the nest. In fact it was a mere walk in the park as my snake boots only provided protection from the fangs of one copperhead strike that I happened upon while carelessly looking up following the sounds of the log god.

Regrettably when our paths finally crossed and the youngsters emerged for a shot I didn’t have my long glass with me. Of course by the time I was able to return a few days later with my long glass, my friendly native ranch neighbor that is rich with local tribal knowledge was casually observing the woodpeckers in my absence and mentioned they had taken wing shortly before my arrival. Oh the joy...

My ranch neighbor assured me that I shouldn’t be concerned about missing the shot because they’re common in the area. No doubt as the sounds of pounding timber routinely escapes from deep within the surrounding native pine forest that I’m fortunate to be a steward of. My friend also assures me that if I enjoy shooting large noisy woodpeckers, then perhaps I’d like to get a picture of an even bigger pair with longer beaks. Apparently the larger of the two has a red crest with a skunk like strip on its back but that the smallest of the pair only has a black crest and not a pretty red one. I assure my neighbor that yes, indeed I am interested and with that, my compulsive journey continues deep in the piney woods of East Texas.

[Jim Victory]

Nice shots Geryl!

Excellent work on the Rocket Bat House. Can't wait to hear how effective it is in use. Any photographic documentation of future inhabitants would be nice too.

Hope all is well with you!

[Glassman]

Geryl, Very nice post with lots of information, love the woodpeckers and hope to see some bat pictures in the future.

[photographer1080]

Very nice Geryl!

[Blue Moon]

Originally Posted by Jim Victory

Nice shots Geryl!

Excellent work on the Rocket Bat House. Can't wait to hear how effective it is in use. Any photographic documentation of future inhabitants would be nice too.

Hope all is well with you!

Jim and other members of the tribe,

Thanks so much for your kind words; your encouragement is always greatly appreciated. While the shots are not up to par with what I normally shoot for, since I’ve worked so hard on the property the past several months I was just thankful for the opportunity to take a break and capture a few shots between swinging a hammer and restoring the land to native habitat. Crossing paths with a few new targets on my list always helps fuel the fire and provides motivation to stay the course.

In perhaps a primal quest to provide shelter, my self-reliant spirit drives me to finish the cabin that I’m slowly building on the property where a dilapidated cabin once stood and provided the basic essentials to kindred spirits many moons ago. After we have shelter and I have a chance to construct a few strategically placed photo blinds, I’m looking forward to spending the day afield with a few friends.

Geryl