Pileated pleasure

A cacophony outside the condo this morning drew my attention to the noisy arrival of a pair of pileated woodpecker who had flown in and started feeding on berries in the arbutus trees. I grabbed my happy snapper and took a couple of shots of this fine male with it held in front of my 'scope.

Late morning I headed down to Holden Creek where it was, again, pretty quiet.
Most welcome was the sight of a couple of cackling Canada geese that were grazing in the field. One of the birds had a very bold white neck-ring.
Up to 6 dowitcher were just about visible amongst a group of roosting teal at the far end of the creek.
I headed round to the end of Raines Rd, passing 11 trumpeter swans on the river.
A juvenile northern harrier was hunting over the saltmarsh but despite a considerable trundle around there were no short-eared owls on view.
A couple more trumpeter swans were out on the water.
A strikingly bright male purple finch amongst the more numerous female-types in the hawthorns added a much welcome splash of colour to the otherwise dull, grey day.
Two adult northern shrikes were seen, implying 3 present in the area altogether.