📍 Location: Hacklebarney State Park — Main Trail → Red Trail loop
❄️ Season: Late Winter

      Observed by:
    🐉 Suellen
    🧭 Alex
    🤍 Sheldon
    🐾 Charlie

 As soon as we stepped out of the car,
🐉 🧭 heard the unmistakable call of a Pileated Woodpecker     somewhere in the forest.

🐾 Charlie immediately picked up scent trails and began following them through the trees.

🤍 Sheldon was filled with vigor — the Rocky theme clearly playing in his head as he charged up the stone stairs.

🤍 He walked the entire hike.
No backpack required.

Trail walked:
    Main Trail → Red Trail loop → up the large stone stairway.

The forest carried that strong late-winter smell —
sap, damp bark, and thawing earth.

When you hear a woodpecker immediately upon arriving in a forest, it often means the bird keeps a regular territory nearby.

Pileated Woodpeckers frequently patrol the same section of forest for years if the habitat remains healthy.

They often announce their presence early in the day with loud drumming.

Two sounds usually mark their territory:

Drumming
Rapid hammering on hollow wood that can carry hundreds of feet through the forest.

Call
A loud, laughing sound:
kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk.

In quiet parks like Hacklebarney, the sound can echo through the gorge.

The Black River Gorge provides exactly the kind of mature forest habitat these birds prefer.

Before our first step, the forest had already begun the conversation.

Sometimes the forest greets you before you greet it.

If you pause long enough,
you realize you’ve stepped into an ongoing conversation.

Late Winter — Territory, rhythm, and awakening

Return for a longer trail.

Both dogs made it clear they were ready.

Sheldon even jumped back out of the car, unwilling to leave the forest behind.

All photos are from time in the field.