Pileated Woodpecker

This morning while I was nest searching I saw my first glimpse of a pileated woodpecker. I've wanted to see one for a long, long time.

What was even cooler than seeing it was that I knew it was in the area long before I saw it because I recognized its call, similar to a flicker's call but shorter. It is just one more sign to myself of my progress. When I started a month ago I couldn't identify any woodpecker calls. Now I can. All morning long I heard the beautiful gurgly call of the red-bellied woodpeckers which seem to be everywhere in that Chevy Chase neighborhood (it's the same place where I first caught red-bellieds in my mist net and posted pictures of them on this blog). The minute I heard the pileated woodpecker I tensed with excitement and began looking around. It flew into the yard I was in and landed on a tree for a minute only to disappear again. I was as excited as if I'd just seen an ivory billed woodpecker. I hope I get a better view later on, and I would be thrilled to have the experience of untangling one from a net.