Pileated Woodpeckers (dryocopus pileatus) are often seen on rotting wood, either on the ground or on old stumps. The first pileated woodpecker bird sighting was at my property in Renton, WA in February on a electric pole. Pileated woodpeckers often only stayed during migration then moved on to richer territory. They like evergreens. As a birdwatcher, I've found they will come to a suet feeder and to fruit.

This pileated woodpecker was spotted while birdwatching in Congaree National Park near Columbia, South Carolina, where local conservationists saved 26,000 acres of old growth forest in a key wetland -- swamps and bottomland. Their range covers the East to the Mississippi River including all the way south to Florida, across the upper regions of Canada and down into the Pacific Northwest. Pileated woodpeckers are often heard by their extremely loud drumming and cries of kuk kuk, keekeekee keekeekee kuk before they are spotted by birdwatchers, often spiraling up a tree from low to high and along tree branches.

Great Blue Herons are one of my favorite birds. They roosted in my home town Renton, WA, along the Black River. This one was spotted in Maryland, near Ocean City. 

Chinese Maple in Bloom

Underneath the leaves of the maples in Western Washington are a wealth of blooming flowers. This Japanese Maple has beautiful read and gold leaves with a gold vein and lovely little yellow flowers and the first of dainty red seed whirl-a-gigs. Check them out, it's lovely to see fertility in progress, especially on a day bleeding for the lost.

Finding Mushrooms in the Cedar River Watershed

I never knew that there were so many mushrooms. I always wondered why people worried about what was edible or not. During an about 2 hour scrounge through the Cedar River Watershed, in Washington, US, we found a collection of about fifty types. We actually had another container with all the larger mushrooms, too. We went as a group and afterwards, we found there was very little duplication, some, but not entirely. The one factoid I remember from the hour lecture was that tree health relies on fungus' in the dirt. There were many more.

Here's the link to the Cedar River watershed webpage for more information about classes such as this one:

http://www.cedarriver.org/

Expect to find hikes, birding, history and more...including rain drums!