Unusual birds arrived and stayed

This male Pileated Woodpecker first arrived in our yard in November 2013, digging for bugs in our trees and posts. It wasn't long before he was eating suit from the wire hangers.

He has stayed around and become much more at home over the last few months.

In January,  selecting suit from several of the feeders.

By March,  he is roosting on the nut feeder so he could just reach down and select the best nuts or pecking  at the nut feeder from his tree stand.

We also had our first Varied Thrush arrive in January and he too has stayed around and become much more at home.

In February, I was spreading nuts, seeds and fruit on the ground for him as he feeds only on the ground.

 With the arrival of March he is now feeding with some of the other birds and spending time in our trees. 

He seems to be relaxed and willing to stay and we are very happy when we see him in our front yard.

Birds and Squirrels

 We have been on our acreage for 17 years but had never seen a Pileated Woodpecker. Now we are so happy that we have seen this female several times at our feeders over the last month. 

When we moved here we had so many red squirrels we tried to protect the bird feeders from them. Then for years we had not seen any. Last fall we saw two on and off collecting spruce cones on both the east and west sides of the house. With winter we found we still have 2 and until we get squirrel feeders built, we are letting them share the nuts at the bird feeders. It is wonderful to have them back. This fellow seems to have a game of chase figured out with a Magpie where they take turns chasing each other; it is so much fun to watch.