We have Pileated Woodpeckers in our section of West Virginia. These guys are nearly impossible to get photos of. They seem to know when someone is around and scare off easily.

We’ve see this one every few weeks; however I’ve never had a camera handy to get a photo. These two photos are very poor; however, they are the best I can get.

The woodpecker has a much larger wing span than I had thought. Here he is on a suet feeder. The photos are much better than some of the ones I’ve seen of Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. I can assure you that the woodpecker does exist. In fact, there are more than one.

Brandi is a little different than Lacey (our first cocker spaniel). Lacey was really an ‘explorer puppy’. When you let Lacey out she’d take off running at anything that moved. In the beginning, Brandi was the same way; however Cheyanne (our sheltie) taught Brandi to stay closeby.

Given the opportunity Brandi will take off running after the deer. If you let her out front to go to the bathroom and there is a deer within about 50 feet, she’d take off after him, after they start running.

I’ve even seen it where I let the dogs out front and they’d walk around back where the deer were, without trying to chase them. When Brandi was a puppy, I remember her trying to sneak up on the deer. Once a large buck was in the yard. Brandi was standing underneath him without him noticing.

I can now let Brandi out on the back deck and tell her to stay and not chase the deer. You can see in this photo, she is just laying down and watching them eat at the corn feeder.

The deer doesn’t even bother to look up. They know it is safe and can eat in peace. Now if I told Brandi to ‘go get them’ she’d chase them halfway back in the woods.

There have been times when Brandi and Cheyanne would chase each other around the house. The deer would just stand there and eat without getting excited or running away.