As spring arrives in full force across the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, I invite you to take a few minutes to immerse yourself in the sounds and happenings of a spring black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera) forest along the Clark Fork River near Missoula, Montana, USA. This is part two in a three-part series following a pair of nesting pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus). In this episode, I track them from the end of cavity excavation in late April through the nestling stage in mid-June.

This story features wildlife photographers Lea Frye (https://leaf-images.com/) and Rachel Ritacco (https://www.ritaccophotography.com/), who accompanied me on one of my visits to the pileated woodpecker nest. As usual, the podcast includes an abundance of audio I recorded in the field, including various cuts of pileated woodpeckers as well as sounds of American robin (Turdus migratorius), tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), song sparrow (Melospiza melodia), red-naped sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis), northern waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis), northern house wren (Troglodytes aedon), wind in the cottonwoods, and May rain.

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You can find the written, illustrated version of this story here: https://wildwithnature.com/2025/05/01/pileated-woodpecker-nest/