I know I am late to this party but just wanted to post my image taken last week. I only captured the female but both male and female were visiting the feeder. They could go through a suet block in just two days. As for the mating...around here they sit on the metal-headed street lights and drum away. Man, you can hear them for blocks.
Because we had so much snow on the ground a few weeks ago, we had ducks visiting the feeder area twice a day. It started with a single male, then a pair (drake and hen) then two pair. For about a week I had to shake the seed feeders sideways to dump seeds on the ground for the ducks. This is strange because I have a small yard right in the middle of town and there is a large tree at one end of the garden. They just swoop in a land right next to the back stairway under the feeders. This guy in the album was by himself late in the day and he caught me sneeking up on him and left. The few shots I did get were in the air against the dull sky.
Just one other note. About two years ago we had one pair of Pileated Woodpeckers (about the size of a crow) nesting on our golf course. The golfers didn't seem to bother them and we got several good looks at them right beside the 3rd teeoff, in a tree there. Sadly, I didn't see them at all last year, and don't know what happened to them. They are a magnificent bird..(I think Tom has one on his SeilerBird site.)
