Saw this while walking Tye today. This is about 1-3 feet above the ground. Any ideas what did it?

Woodpeckers.

Fish on...

Todd

Looks like woodpeckerin' by a big one like a Northern Flicker maybe.
Upon further review, Flickers nest in tree cavities but would rather foage on the ground.

I'm going to go with the Pileated Woodpecker.
Dangerous for him working that close to the ground.
Bobcat, fox or coyote could grab him pretty easily I would think.

http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/rsandelin/Fieldguide/Animalpages/Birds/Woodpeckers.htm
They have that "jungle call"....I sometimes hear that in the summer woods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileated_Woodpecker#Distribution_and_habitat
The excavation in this pic looks a bit like yours, Dave.

Birds are cool creatures and fun to observe.

Pileated peckers can make the chips fly in punky alders and cottonwoods, and that is definitely their handywork....

I love that "jungle" call. We have several around here that I hear almost every day. I too think woodpecker, but wondered about it working that close to the ground.

Must be a good bug population right there.

Bad for his safety, making all that noise which draws in predators and at the same time masks their approach.

I've seen Pileateds in my back yard doing that to downed timber, even...stuff laying on the ground.

Fish on...

Todd

Does look like the work of a pileated woodpecker, HOWEVER, if the question was posed to the BFRO, they would likely come up with a different answer. Those woods do look "squatchy"!

Definitely the pileated woodpecker. We have a bunch of dead trees around here with the same holes, and I usually hear them while walking the dog, and see them across the street

I shot this guy in my front yard last summer.

That's your culprit, right there.

Fish on...

Todd

If he could get one good peck between the eyes of a bobcat that cat would see stars.

I agree. They have an evil prehistoric look to them.

It's amazing that a bird of that size can make a living digging insects out of rotten trees.
Must require quite a few bugs per day.

Out of all the birds I like, I like that one the best. Only bird I ever passed on that I had in my sights as a wild 5mm sheridan carrying youtt, bellycrawled to sub 20yards.... just couldn't pull the trigger, it confused me at the time as that had never happened before. Nice to see a few of them around these days, and like said, if that Tarzan movie jungle call of theirs doesn't wake up a primal instinct in you.... then you are definately an inside cat.

They are amazing birds-


most people don't know that their tongue is almost as long as their body and it retracts around their brain to absorb the shock from hammering; shock that could otherwise kill them.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pileated_Woodpecker/sounds/ac


turn up the speakers.....

They're stunning.