Pileated Woodpecker Pecking and Feeding on the Ground

For 30 minutes mother Pileated Woodpecker was digging a rather large hole in the ground because sometimes pecking for protein is better on the ground!
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It is always exciting to see a stunning Pileated Woodpecker, I never tire of seeing these charismatic birds, the largest woodpeckers in North America.
I spotted this female intently pecking at the ground from a distance through a screen window and watched her dig a rather large hole in the earth for over 10 minutes before I got my camera and tried to stealthily sneak up on her.
Well, she really didn't care about me, because she had tapped into the mother lode inside a large buried rotten root of a long cut down tree and was lapping up carpenter ants and termites and their larvae with her sticky barbed tongue and occasionally digging out the piece de resistance - big juicy grubs. She is covered in dirt – her white head feathers now tinged brown.
It is mid-May and they no doubt have a nest with chicks in it not to far away in the woods, I could hear another Pileated calling off and on in the distance. Mother woodpecker was collecting this yummy mush to regurgitate into the chicks when she returned to their nest cavity. At one point a Northern Flicker joined the Pileated woodpecker as she had no doubt stirred up a bunch of carpenter ants which are also coveted by the Flickers.
After mother Pileated flew off I checked the spot and she had pecked and dug out a remarkably large hole. She'll be back her later as will the Flicker. I'm always on the lookout for interesting animal behavior so I've included more of her excavation for your enjoyment.

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