Mariton: Elusive Bird

By Tim Burris, Preserve Manager.  Photos by Marilyn Hessinger.

Marilyn joined our Tuesday Walks four years ago. She is an avid gardener and I enjoy when she talks about the things she sees in nature that have technical terms in garden designs.  Over the years, she has become an enthusiastic birder.  One bird that has eluded her is a Pileated Woodpecker. Not that we haven’t seen them while on the bird walks, it was just that she hadn’t seen them.  There is a list of reasons she missed a sighting, and she has been a good sport laughing at her frustration.  She even poked fun at herself and took the above photo of a stuffed toy in her garden.

Marilyn’s first real sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker!

This fall, we finally had a Pileated Woodpecker that Marilyn got to view for several minutes. I know she had great satisfaction in the sighting, but it was a huge thrill for me and the other birders to be able to share the sighting with her.