Our winter bird blinds

We have located at least where the Pileated Woodpecker sleeps, but is this where they will nest? We dug holes 3 feet down into the snow then set our blinds on the snow around the hole elevating them from the ground so we are able to stand up in them for now. We have had them set up for about a month now in hopes of getting the birds used to our presence. So far so good. Every morning that we have visited at sunrise, he pops his head out of the hole and peeks at us before flying off. Then he always flies to this one tree and begins hammering away. It is a loud, solid, hollow, hammering noise, almost eerie on a quiet cold morning such as today,10 degrees! Our next task is to get good flight shots of him soaring out of his hole and to investigate the tree he goes to all the time. We have seed feeders and suet feeders to keep us company while the big woodpecker is gone. We have had chickadees, nuthatches, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and cardinals visit us at our 2nd home. We actually spent some time mimicking the birds and calling them in and it worked

That's all for today, stay tuned!!