Descent of Pileated Woodpeckers Enjoy Orion Township’s Camp Agawam
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Oct. 22, 2024)
Orion Township, MI – The other day while walking at Camp Agawam in Orion Township I heard a bird call that I’ve never heard before. I recently have begun using the Merlin app, which identifies bird calls, and found that I was hearing multiple pileated woodpeckers conversing in the trees around me.
Pileated woodpeckers are the unequivocal big birds of Michigan woodpeckers. They can be up to 19.5 inches long with a wingspan of up to 30 inches!
The Pileated is mostly black, with hints of white in it’s chest feathers and a head that it white with bright red crest and a streak of black around it’s eyes that looks like smudged mascara. Males also have a red stripe on their cheek. The underside of a pileated’s wings also has a white section of feathers.
This is the bird that the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker was modeled after.
Because of their size and their voracity, their jackhammer-like pecks at tree trunks can easily echo through a forest. But I’ve never seen more than one or two in one area, and I’ve never heard them caw. But this day was different.
Once I realized what I was listening to, I turned on the camera and followed the sound.
What I came up on was a rare sight – a “descent” of six pileateds enjoying the same area of the forest. Normally rather territorial, such a gathering is considered rare, although with the age of cell phones and the decrease of natural spaces we’re seeing increased sightings of many wild creatures once thought to be on the more elusive side. I’ve never seen them in this park before, though I have seen them in nearby Orion Oaks County Park.
Even as a seasoned nature-lover, getting a good look at even one of these magnificent birds is considered an experience. Spending about a hour following around six of them was an absolute delight! They were generally pretty far from me, but I was able to get a few shots with my phone, and the above videos.
Camp Agawam is a space that used to be a camp for scouts, which is now a public park. It features natural wooded areas, but also has a lot of people-centric features like a swimming beach, campsites, a stage for concerts and other performances, and a playground area. It’s located at 1301 Clarkston Road.
Learn more about Orion Parks at https://www.orionparks.com/.
Find more places to explore at https://oaklandcounty115.com/places-to-explore-in-oakland-county/.
And check out more animal stories at https://oaklandcounty115.com/category/sections/pets-and-animals/.