A shy, elegant, crow-sized, woodpecker with a black body, black and white neck stripes, white wing linings, and a prominent red crest. The “mustache” is red in males and black in females. Often hard to observe due to its timid nature, its presence can be detected by its loud, ringing call and characteristically rectangular excavations in trees.
Forest
Resident through forested North America from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, s. Quebec, and central Ontario south to s. Florida, and west to forested river bottoms extending into the Great Plains in e. Texas and se. Oklahoma.
Common
Diurnal
This woodpecker feeds on insects, primarily carpenter ants and woodboring beetle larvae; also wild fruits and nuts.
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 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.
Nesting holes made by woodpeckers provide good homes in future years for many forest songbirds and a wide variety of other animals. Owls and tree-nesting ducks may largely rely on holes made by these birds to lay their nests. Even mammals such as raccoons may use them.
Least Concern
