Creature Feature – The Pileated Woodpecker

The pileated woodpecker is quite large (crow-sized) making it easy to distinguish from our other resident tree tappers.  It’s mostly black, with zebra-like facial stripes and a bright red crest. The male has a red forehead and red “moustache.”  This bird prefers unbroken swaths of older forests with plenty of decaying wood, where it uses its powerful, dagger-like bill to chisel and pry the bark off rotting trees.  It then plunges its long, barbed tongue into the holes to snag carpenter ants and beetle larvae. It also eats other insect pests, fruits and nuts. If you notice a big pile of wood chips at the base of a tree or stump, or large, deep rectangular holes in a tree, these are classic signs of pileated activity.  Listen for its call, a sharp “kuk-kuk-kuk!” or the deep hammering sound that is produced when it drums forcefully on trees.  It mates for life; and once the female lays her eggs within a deep nest cavity – often excavated within a large tree or a standing dead tree — both parents help to incubate and protect the eggs from predators, like tree-climbing snakes.  They may even move the eggs to a new spot if the nest is no longer safe. You can support the pileated woodpecker by leaving standing deadwood “snags” on your property, which provide both food sources and nesting sites.

Article & Photo by Margie Manthey