re: Bird

Hi Jeff, and Rick,

Does sound like it doesn't it!

This is one we get in the UK - the greater spotted woodpecker,
matches the description pretty well...

http://www.first-nature.com/birds/dendrocopos_major.htm

You see that around Oxford sometimes in the woods and parks
- usually hear it drumming first of course.

I see you also get it in the States, plus many other ones as well:

http://www.bcpl.net/~tross/nabirds.html

We only get the lesser and greater spotted woodpecker, (the lesser is rare here)
and the green woodpecker - that is a very common bird here which pecks
around on lawns, though shy and unobtrusive in its behaviour
- you most often see and hear it flying off with a call sometimes
described as like a kind of laugh.

Robert