melissatwa's Journal, 14 Feb 21

That thing is huge! I'm just amazed every time. 

Princess, this is the female, so of the three pileated woodpeckers that frequent my feeder, she is the smallest! The lads can be a foot and a half tall! Apparently they can have a wingspan of up to 30 inches. I haven't convinced them to let me take a measurement, but they are mighty big birds!  

Happy Valentines Day Melissa 🌹 May the melting snows wash away the LBS you're working so hard to shed. 👍 

Wow it looks cold!🥶 Thanks for helping the outside birds that are surviving it. ❤️👍 

It's hilarious. It seems like a camera trick.  

Happy Valentine's Day Melissa. 💗 Second day our daughter tried to make it to the mailbox. 📬 Stay cozy.  

That's a beautiful wood-pecker. I remember I had a wood-pecker in AZ. He used to peck in the wee-hours of the morning and wake me up every Sunday just like clockwork. He never let me sleep in on Sundays....lol  

Happy Valentine’s Day Melissa! ❄️❣️ 

What beautiful pictures! I can't get pictures of birds. I get woodpeckers just like the one in your picture. 

melissa always enjoy your pics. is that a pileated? they're huge. I know you have larger woodpeckers but here those r the largest. always enjoy your flowers too. thanks for sharing. and a foot? geez. we get 6 inches at a time but monthly totals are high.  

I love pileated woodpecker 

So cool. We had those when we lived in Oregon. You’re so lucky. 

Hope you had a great time. I really like woodpeckers. Around here many people think they are too noisy. in Norway there is a fairy tale that says that a woman name Gertrude who wore a red head covering was so misery and refused to make enough lefse for her hungry guests that God punished her by making her into a bird that had to spend its whole life looking for food between the bark and wood.  

Love the bright red on the woodpecker!!! Hope you had a great ❤ day with the fam!!!! 

That's a cool story Liv! I've never heard that and my FIL was full blooded Norwegian.  

You guys are so kind and supportive! How much it means to me to have this place and the friends who make it what it is. I want to thank you all individually. Sometimes I can. Sk, I am working at "melting" those rotten pounds. It will take time, but I am focused. :) I do feel so blessed to have these beautiful birds come to visit. When the first pileated started to come, I was so excited I could hardly believe it! They are not extremely common and are so special. When they fly they look like pterodactyl to me so I "named" the first Dino. Then his mate joined! Naturally, she needed to be Dina! Then another male, who seems to be a little younger, started to come, so he is Donny. :) Liv, that is a sorrowful story, but so interesting. I love these beautiful birds and feel privileged to make their lives a little bit easier. Even when they aren't visiting, I can often hear their calls or drilling in the huge trees nearby. They are one of the reasons I am now working at a wild bird store teaching others how to provide a little help to this beautiful part of nature. Now if I could just get paid to raise roses, my hobbies would both be helping to pay the bills! :)  

I'm glad you are with your family and all is well that's a blessing and I'm glad your Valentine's day was good 😊 

Love your beautiful pictures! They certainly brighten FS. Thank you for sharing! 

Hi Melissatwa- beautiful photos! I have missed you; I have been trying to cut down my screen time, partly for my eyes and partly trying to apply time to other things. I hope you and your family had a great day together! 

Thank you so much Jenny and Kattay!!! You are always so kind! Tom, I'm very busy with two jobs and my family with a whole lot of stresses. I'm not doing so great on a few levels... Diet and exercise is still suffering. I'm trying yet not successful a good deal of the time. Hoping for some better days ahead! Spring is coming and so is my return to the gym! I am hoping for about two weeks from now. 😁