WOODS, WATERS, AND WILDLIFE
Attracting ‘Big Bird’ Pileated woodpeckers are a spectacular sight — if you can get them to come around. STORY AND PHOTOS BY W.H. “CHIP” GROSS
T
he largest woodpecker in North America lives in the Buckeye State, and for years I tried unsuccessfully to lure one to my home birdfeeders — and, ultimately, within camera range. Crow-sized with a 30-inch wingspan and sporting a large, blood-red crest, the pileated woodpecker is a spectacular bird, but it’s also one of the most wary, secretive, and elusive wild critters in all of Ohio’s forests. As the photos with this story attest, I eventually achieved my goal of attracting and photographing pileated woodpeckers up close. But I have to give credit where it’s due — I had a little help. Bird Watcher’s Digest (www.birdwatchersdigest. com) is an outstanding national birding magazine that has been published bimonthly in Marietta, Ohio, by the Thompson family for more than 40 years. In reading the March/April 2020 issue, I came across a short article by birder Tom Coleman of Bloomington, Indiana, titled “My Mega Suet Feeder.” In the story, he described making an oversized suet feeder that attracted pileated woodpeckers. He said he once even had four birds on the feeder at the same time! I was skeptical, but thought I’d give it a try. Coleman began by taking one-inch wire mesh and shaping it into a square, five inches per side. He wired it together, then added a wire-mesh bottom, leaving the top of the tube open. The length of his feeder was 24 inches. He said that 23 commercial suet cakes filled the feeder, stacked flat one upon another. To save a few bucks, I tweaked Coleman’s approach. Instead of the commercial suet cakes, I stopped by my local butcher shop and bought beef fat at $1 per pound; it took 10 pounds of the fat to fill my feeder. I then wired the feeder about six feet off the ground in a tree near the window of my home office and waited. And waited.
10 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • JANUARY 2022
