A Pileated Woodpecker comes to our suet feeder each day. It first lands on a 70-foot tall cottonwood, then swoops 100 feet to the feeder. Mostly, on the swoop it moves like a rocket, wings folded, tail acting as a rudder as it flies around tree branches. I've tried to photograph its landing on the suet tree. I've wondered what manuevers are necessary to slow its fast approach. It does open its wings just before landing, as seen here, and then just pulls its feet into position and grabs the tree. Just what you'd think, I suppose. It happens so fast, though, that I couldn't see the details of the action until I used a camera. The photo was taken at 1/1000th of a second.
