They have a characteristic red crest, or “mohawk”
The pileated woodpecker can often be heard tapping its beaks against trees as it searched for its next meal. Common to North America, this is the third largest woodpecker in the world and the largest woodpecker in North America. You will find them in mature forests and heavily wooded areas. It gets its common name from the prominent red crest atop its head and its eating habit—which we’ll learn about later. “Pileated” comes from the Latin word pileatus which means “capped”. Let’s learn more about this action-packed bird.
Pileated woodpeckers are large birds that are easy to identify. The adults are 16 to 19 inches long with 26 to 30 inch wingspans. They weigh about 14 ounces maximum. Males are typically larger than females. They have mainly black feathers with some white feathers along the tips and undersides of their wings. They have a characteristic red crest, or “mohawk”. Adult males also have a red patch from the bill to the throat. In adult females, this area is black. That means that the woodpecker featured here is a male. There are two subspecies of this bird: the northern and southern pileated woodpeckers. The northern subspecies is slightly larger on average.
Pileated Woodpecker Back View
They get a majority of their calories from insects. They are known to consume many carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae. They will also eat fruits, nuts, and berries, but these constitute a smaller portion of their diet. To find their food, pileated woodpeckers will chip large and roughly rectangular holes in trees by hitting their long, pointed beaks against the trees. When they do this, they are searching for ant colonies and beetle larvae. If they can’t bite them with their beaks, they will lap them up with their long tongues that can get into crevices.
When nesting pileated woodpeckers seek out cavities in dead trees. They will expand these holes in search of food. Their nests will often have multiple entrance holes. These can grow to be so big that some small trees are known to break in half. In the spring the holes that are made by the males attract a female. They will then mate and raise their young in the nest. Once abandoned, these cavities become the homes of songbirds, owls, ducks, raccoons, and more.
They are known to consume many carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae
Did you know?
- They lay 3 to 5 eggs at a time with both parents incubating the eggs over a period of 12 to 16 days.
- The oldest known pileated woodpecker lived to 12 years and 11 months old in the wild.
- The young will take their first flight at about one month old.
- Pileated woodpeckers are protected under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act, which makes it illegal to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, or sell these birds. Nearly 1,100 species of birds are protected under this act.
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