Pileated Woodpecker

The largest of the North American common woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers are birds that are easy to recognize thanks to the distinctive red crests atop their heads. Found primarily across southern Canada, the eastern United States, the northern Rockies, and parts of the Pacific Coast, pileated woodpeckers are monogamous, non-migratory birds. They prefer to inhabit old-growth forests with plenty of dead, standing trees, and they are famous for leaving rectangular holes in trees while searching for their favorite food – carpenter ants. These birds are not endangered and have a steadily increasing population.

4 Amazing Pileated Woodpecker Facts

• Damage to the Environment: Sometimes, these woodpeckers’ pecking activity causes serious damage to trees.
• Permanent Residents: Pileated woodpeckers are non-migratory birds, so they remain in the same habitat throughout their lives.
• Monogamous: Male and female pileated woodpeckers are birds that pair up and remain monogamous throughout their lives; however, they typically roost separately from each other.
• Population Increasing: Their populations declined during the 19th and early 20th centuries due to logging activity, but efforts to restore woodland areas and the birds’ general adaptability have caused their numbers to increase steadily.

Where to Find Pileated Woodpeckers

Geographically speaking, pileated woodpeckers are birds that are mostly found in the eastern U.S. and southern Canada. They are also found along sections of the Pacific Coast and in the northern Rocky Mountains. They prefer old-growth forests with standing dead trees and fallen logs, which they bore at and probe with their barbed tongues while searching for food.

Highly adaptable to changing forest conditions, these woodpeckers are found across coniferous, mixed, and hardwood forests, and they are occasionally found in woodlots and parks. Birdwatchers should focus on forested areas near bottomlands and watercourses while searching for pileated woodpeckers. They are found at all heights of the forest, and they sometimes forage in dead logs on the ground. Since they are non-migratory birds, they can be found throughout the year.

Nests

After locating a prospective nesting site — typically a hole bored into the trunk of a tree — male and female pileated woodpeckers tap and drum on the wood to spark the courtship process. Nests are usually located 15 to 50 feet above the ground, and both sexes work on excavating the hole. As they work, they occasionally toss piles of wood chips onto the ground, and they line their nests with some of the chips, too. Pileated woodpeckers abandon their nests after raising their young, and it’s extremely rare for them to reuse an old nest.

Classification and Scientific Name

The scientific name for the pileated woodpecker is Dryocopus pileatus. It belongs to the class Aves, the order Piciformes, the family Picidae, and the genus Dryocopus. In addition to the pileated woodpecker, the genus includes five other species.

“Pileated” is derived from the Latin word “pileus,” which refers to a brimless, cone-shaped hat popular in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The red crest atop the bird’s head resembles such a cap.

Other names for the pileated woodpecker include carpenter bird, wood hen, Indian hen, laughing woodpecker, and cock of the woods.

Species

There are two subspecies of pileated woodpecker:

• The Northern pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus abieticola) can be found in southern Canada south through the western, north-central, and northwestern United States.
• The Southern pileated woodpecker (D.p. pileatus) inhabits the southeastern United States.

Evolution

The Archaeopteryx is the earliest known bird, with fossils dating 150 million years ago. A range of birds with more “bird-like” features appeared after Archaeopteryx and gave rise to modern birds in the Late Cretaceous. It is believed that bird-like dinosaurs, primitive birds, and early modern birds all co-existed for a time.

Woodpeckers, as we now know them, first evolved in the tropics of Eurasia, about 45 million years ago. At that time, the common ancestor of woodpeckers split off from the lineage that became the modern honeyguides — the closest living relatives of woodpeckers.

The oldest woodpecker fossil was found in Germany, from a bird that lived 25 million years ago, during the late Oligocene Epoch. The earliest fossil of woodpeckers in the Western Hemisphere is a feather suspended in amber that dates from about 23 million years ago, found in the Dominican Republic.

Woodpecker species diversification really took off around 14 million years ago, as they spread around the world and evolved into hundreds of species.

Size, Appearance, and Behavior

The pileated woodpecker is a crow-sized bird with a mostly charcoal-gray-colored body. On average, it attains a length of 16 to 19 inches and weighs an average of 8.8 to 12.3 ounces. Its average wingspan is 26 to 30 inches. Distinctive zebra stripes appear on its head and neck, and a bright red crest is perched atop its head. The bird has a long, chisel-shaped bill that it uses to bore holes into trees and to engage in its distinctive “drumming.” Sometimes, this activity causes severe damage to the tree. In fact, some trees incur so much damage that they break in half. The bird’s skull and neck are reinforced, allowing it to peck away at wood for extended periods of time.

These woodpeckers pair off and establish territories that they remain in all year. They use their display drum, consisting of a burst of 11 to 30 taps — all performed in less than a second — to establish these territories, which extend over several hundred acres on average. They also use drumming to attract mates. The bird has a distinctive call consisting of a rapid, ringing series that sounds like “kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk,” rising and falling along the way.

Male vs. Female

Males and females both have charcoal-gray bodies and red crests atop their heads. However, the adult female’s forehead has a brownish color, while the forehead of the male is bright scarlet. Males have a red line extending from the bill to the throat; in females, the line is black.

Migratory Pattern and Timing

Pileated woodpeckers are non-migratory birds and therefore don’t follow migratory patterns.

Diet

Pileated woodpeckers are technically omnivores. They subsist mostly on insects, however, so they are also considered insectivores. They particularly like carpenter ants; on average, the insects account for roughly 60% of their diet. Wood-boring beetle larvae are also popular, and the birds consume many other insects, too. They round out their diets with berries and nuts that they forage from the forest floor.

What Does the Pileated Woodpecker Eat?

The primary staple of this woodpecker is the carpenter ant.

Predators, Threats, and Conservation Status

What Eats the Pileated Woodpecker?

In the wild, this woodpecker is sometimes hunted by cats. Predators at their nesting sites include squirrels, weasels, rat snakes, and gray foxes. Human activity poses threats to these woodpeckers, and they are often killed by collisions with glass windows and doors. Logging activities in the 19th and early 20th centuries impacted population numbers, but the species has rebounded and is not endangered. It is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Reproduction, Young and Molting

During courtship, pileated woodpeckers spread their wings to show off bright, white patches. They swing their heads back and forth while raising the red crest at the top. They also perform a gliding display flight to attract mates. After pairing off, they locate prospective nesting sites and spend two to three weeks building them. Three to five eggs are laid per clutch, and both sexes incubate the eggs for a period of roughly 18 days.

Nestlings are naked and defenseless upon hatching, and both parents feed them through regurgitation. Nestlings typically leave the nest after 26 to 28 days but remain with their parents for two to three more months. All body plumage is molted gradually from late summer through early fall.

Population

The global population of the pileated woodpecker is estimated at around 2.6 million. Approximately 67% of these birds are found in the U.S., and around 33% are found in Canada. Their population is steadily increasing, and they are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Therefore, they are not considered endangered.