Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:46:58 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Beth Kantrowitz Subject: Pileated Woodpeckers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Last night I had a dream where I saw a Pileated Woodpecker perched on a tree, very close by, and no one could understand why I was so excited. For years and years the Pileated was my "he just left before you got here" bird, my "if they're so darn common why haven't I ever seen one?" bird, until I finally got two sightings about six years ago in Charlottesville, VA, both in-flight and distant, but unmistakeable. Still, I crave a sighting of a perched Pileated, where I can actually SEE the bird and have time to look at it closely. The dream really bothered me, and then I woke up and read the last Osprey digest with someone seeing their 4th Pileated and others agreeing how amazing they are! Do dream sightings count on my life list? :) -Beth Kantrowitz, Hyattsville P.S. Could I possible be seeing a female Purple Finch among the house sparrows at my balcony feeder? The bird doesn't quite match any of the possible true sparrows, with her head pattern and heavily streaked breast and belly with no central spot. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================