Woodpecking His Way Through NDG, Montreal Without A Care

Woodpecking His Way Through NDG, Montreal Without A Care

Walking over to a meeting with my client on Brillon avenue in Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) this morning and I hear this knocking noise closeby. I looked up and all around with no luck. Something caught my gaze down near the ground and there was this woodpecker going at it on a rotten tree trunk.

I was amazed how confident this bird was and how large it was. It stood more than a foor tall. I slowly stepped my way closer to him and only when I was 3 feet away did he feel I was too close.

He did not fly away, rather chose to move around the trunk to the backside out of my view. Well, I would have non of that and walked around to the other side. He studied me, likely sizing me up, and decided to walk, slowly, to another part of the trunk to continue his pecking search for food.

NDG has been rejuvenated over the last 15 years and is now one of the more sought out neighbourhoods in Montreal. Access to major highways, to downtown and services makes it a nice place to settle in. I offer a glimpse of real estate activity in my monthly NDG market report and provide more detailed, relevant statistics to my clients looking to buy or sell residential property in Montreal, Quebec. The homes on Brillon avenue are in the Eastern-most part of NDG and referred to as Westmount adjacent being tucked up against one of our most prominent neighbourhoods.

Anyways, It was incredible as it is the first bird who was not bothered by my presence. I guess it takes a large bird more to feel threatened.

A little research on the web and I have learned this was a Pileated Woodpecker, a very large North American woodpecker, almost crow-sized, it is the largest woodpecker in America. Adults are 40 to 49 centimetres (16 to 19 in) long, and weigh 250 to 350 grams (8.8 to 12 oz). They are mainly black with a red crest, and have a white line down the sides of the throat. They show white on the wings in flight. Adult males have a red line from the bill to the throat, in adult females these are black.