Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
The majestic Pileated Woodpecker is North America’s largest woodpecker, due to the unfortunate, virtual extinction of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. If you listen closely in the forest, you will be sure to hear the pileated calling or drumming, and if you’re lucky enough, you may even catch a glimpse of it flying by or hammering on a snag.
HOW TO IDENTIFY
- solid black back
- white stripes on the face
- flaming red crest
- long chisel-like bill
- males have a red mustache
Identify in Flight
To identify the Pileated Woodpecker as it flies by, look for these clues:
- undulating flight pattern
- extensive white underwings
- small white crescents on upper side of wings
Identify by Sound
Characteristic rectangular feeding hole made by Pileated Woodpeckers
Characteristic rectangular feeding hole made by Pileated Woodpeckers
Pileated Woodpeckers have a loud, shrill piping call with notes that sound like ‘wuk’ or ‘cuk’. It is similar to the Northern Flicker’s call, but is less even tone, with changing emphasis throughout. They also make a deep drumming sound when feeding or when trying to attract a mate in the spring.
WHERE TO FIND
Pileated Woodpeckers are found throughout most of Alberta, in forested regions. They live in mature forest and young forests which are scattered with a supply of large dead trees. You can find these woodpeckers right in Edmonton’s river valley!
Pileated Woodpeckers are residents and do not migrate in the winter. They have plenty of food sources to sustain them year round.
Pileated Woodpeckers live in mature deciduous or mixed deciduous-coniferous woodlands of nearly every type, from tall western hemlock stands of the Northwest to beech and maple forests in New England and cypress swamps of the Southeast. They can also be found in younger forests that have scattered, large, dead trees or a ready supply of decaying, downed wood. Throughout their range, Pileated Woodpeckers can also be found in suburban areas with large trees and patches of woodland.
BEHAVIORS
Pileated Woodpeckers forage in large, dead wood—standing dead trees, stumps, or logs lying on the forest floor. They make impressive rectangular excavations that can be a foot or more long and go deep inside the wood. These holes pursue the tunnels of carpenter ants, the woodpecker’s primary food.
The birds also use their long, barbed tongue to extract woodboring beetle larvae (which can be more than an inch long) or termites lying deep in the wood. When hammering into this soft wood, Pileated Woodpeckers use their long neck to pull far back from the tree, then make powerful strikes with their heavy bill, pulling with their feet to increase the strength of the blow. The sound is often audible as a heavy thunk, and large chips of wood collect on the ground below. Pileated Woodpeckers are monogamous and hold large territories; it’s rare to see more than two birds together at a time. When one member of a pair dies, the other often gains a new mate, and this is one of the main ways that new individuals get a chance to breed and hold a territory. Their flight is strong, but slow and slightly undulating; the wingbeats are deep but quick and somewhat unevenly paced.
SOCIAL LIFE
Pileated Woodpecker pairs stay together in their territory all year.
They defend their territory, only tolerating new arrivals in the winter months.
NEST PLACEMENT
Nest trees are typically dead and within a mature or old stand of coniferous or deciduous trees, but may also be in dead trees in younger forests or even in cities. Dead trees are a valuable resource as nest sites or shelter for birds and other animals, and Pileated Woodpeckers battle for ownership with Wood Ducks, European Starlings, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Eastern Bluebirds, and Great Crested Flycatchers. Occasionally bats and swifts share roost cavities with Pileated Woodpeckers.
NEST DESCRIPTION
The male begins excavating then nest cavity and does most of the work, but the female contributes, particularly as the hole nears completion. The entrance hole is oblong rather than the circular shape of most woodpecker holes. For the finishing touches, the bird climbs all the way into the hole and chips away at it from the inside. Periodically the adult picks up several chips at a time in its bill and tosses them from the cavity entrance. Pileated Woodpeckers don’t line their nests with any material except for leftover wood chips. The nest construction usually takes 3-6 weeks, and nests are rarely reused in later years. Cavity depth can range from 10-24 inches.
FOOD CHAIN
The Pileated Woodpecker’s primary food is carpenter ants, supplemented by other ants, woodboring beetle larvae, termites, and other insects such as flies, spruce budworm, caterpillars, cockroaches, and grasshoppers. They also eat wild fruits and nuts, including greenbrier, hackberry, sassafrass, blackberries, sumac berries, poison ivy, holly, dogwood, persimmon, and elderberry.
In some diet studies, ants constituted 40 percent of the diet, and up to 97 percent in some individuals. Occasionally, Pileated Woodpeckers visit backyard bird feeders for seeds or suet.
Food: mainly ants and other wood-boring insects; also fruits, nuts, and berries.
Predators to the nest: martens, weasels, and squirrels, but the adults will guard their nest – which was observed by a photographer watching a nest and an intruding squirrel. Click here to see photos.
Predators to the adult birds: some hawk and owl species.
FUN FACTS
The oldest known Pileated Woodpecker was 12 years, 11 months old.
You can pronounce ‘pileated’ two ways, with a short ‘I’ sound (pill-ee-ated) or a long ‘I’ sound (pile-ee-ated).
A group of Pileated Woodpeckers is called a “crown”.
A woodpecker’s head moves 6 m/s at each peck enduring a deceleration more than 1,000 times that of gravity. Scientists have been studying woodpeckers’ skulls to find out how the birds can peck with such force, without resulting in injury to their brain. This research may be helpful in designing more effective head protection for people.
- The Pileated Woodpecker digs characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half.
- The feeding excavations of a Pileated Woodpecker are so extensive that they often attract other birds. Other woodpeckers, as well as House Wrens, may come and feed there.
- The Pileated Woodpecker prefers large trees for nesting. In young forests, it will use any large trees remaining from before the forest was cut. Because these trees are larger than the rest of the forest, they present a lightning hazard to the nesting birds.
- A Pileated Woodpecker pair stays together on its territory all year round. It will defend the territory in all seasons, but will tolerate new arrivals during the winter.
- The oldest known Pileated Woodpecker was a male, and at least 12 years, 11 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Maryland.
how you can help
Pileated Woodpeckers sometimes visit backyard bird feeders, especially for suet. Find out more about what this bird likes to eat and what feeder is best by using the Project FeederWatch Common Feeder Birds bird list.
If you have dead or dying trees or snags on your property, consider leaving them alone as they may attract Pileated Woodpeckers (as well as other woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc.) to forage, roost or even nest in them.
Consider putting up a nest box to attract a breeding pair. Make sure you put it up well before breeding season. Attach a guard to keep predators from raiding eggs and young.
Our Boisvert’s GreenWoods Conservation Lands is home to nesting Pileated Woodpeckers. This natural area conserves important old growth forest where numerous species of woodpeckers have plenty of snags – crawling with bugs – to feast on.
If you live near a ravine, or any woodpecker habitat, you can hang a suet feeder on a tree to help provide food for Pileated Woodpeckers.
Leave dead or dying trees standing (rather than knocking them down) in natural areas and green spaces. They provide lots of food for woodpeckers.