Pileated Woodpecker

How to identify a Pileated Woodpecker

Size gets you close very quickly. Pileated Woodpeckers are huge compared with Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, and most other familiar woodpeckers. Cornell describes them as nearly the size of an American Crow.

The bird is mostly black with a striking red crest and white stripes along the face and neck. Adult males have a red stripe on the cheek, sometimes called a moustache stripe. Females have the red crest too but lack that red cheek mark.

In flight, watch for large white areas under the wings. A flying Pileated can look almost crow-like at first because of its size, but the white wing flashes and long neck change the picture fast.

How big is a Pileated Woodpecker?

Cornell lists a length of about 15.8 to 19.3 inches, a weight of roughly 8.8 to 12.3 ounces, and a wingspan around 26 to 29.5 inches.

That makes it much larger than a Northern Flicker. If you have already learned crows as a size reference, a Pileated is one of those birds that makes that reference pay off.

What does a Pileated Woodpecker sound like?

The voice is loud and carries through woods. One common call is a ringing series of notes that can remind people of a Northern Flicker, although Pileated often sounds deeper, more resonant, and less even in rhythm.

Both sexes also drum. Cornell describes a powerful, fairly slow rolling drum lasting around three seconds. A distant bird may be heard long before you see its red crest.

What do Pileated Woodpecker holes look like?

Fresh feeding holes are one of the best clues. Pileated Woodpeckers dig deep into soft or decaying wood while following carpenter-ant tunnels. The finished excavation is often rectangular rather than a neat little round hole and can be a foot or more long.

Large wood chips may collect below the tree. A hole by itself is not proof because trees break and other animals work on wood, but a big rectangular excavation in rotten timber is worth checking for a Pileated.

What do Pileated Woodpeckers eat?

Carpenter ants are the main food. They also eat other ants, wood-boring beetle larvae, termites, and a range of other insects. Fruits and nuts can become part of the diet too.

The bird's long bill and tongue are built for reaching prey inside decaying wood. This is why standing dead trees, stumps, and fallen logs are not just messy forest leftovers. They are feeding habitat.

Do Pileated Woodpeckers visit bird feeders?

Sometimes. Suet is the feeder food most likely to bring one in, especially in a wooded neighbourhood where the birds are already nearby.

A feeder cannot replace large trees and dead wood. If the surrounding area lacks mature woodland, a suet cage alone is unlikely to create regular Pileated visits.

Where do Pileated Woodpeckers live?

They live in mature deciduous and mixed forests across a large part of North America. Western birds can use tall conifer forests too. They also occur in younger woods when enough large dead trees and fallen logs remain.

Wooded suburbs can support them when the tree structure is right. Listen around big trees, forest edges, parks, and greenbelts, then look low as well as high. Pileated Woodpeckers often feed on logs, stumps, and the lower parts of trunks.

How do Pileated Woodpeckers nest?

They excavate a large cavity, usually in a dead tree. The entrance is often oblong rather than perfectly round. The male does most of the digging, with the female helping more as the cavity nears completion.

Construction can take three to six weeks. Cornell lists three to five eggs, incubation of about 15 to 18 days, and a nestling period around 24 to 31 days. A pair usually makes a new nest cavity rather than reusing the same one the next year.

Those old cavities do not go to waste. Other birds and mammals can use them later, which gives a living Pileated territory an effect that reaches well beyond one species.

Pileated Woodpecker vs Northern Flicker

Both are large woodpeckers, but they are very different once seen well. A Northern Flicker is brown with dark spots on the belly, a black breast crescent, bright colour in the wings and tail, and a white rump that flashes in flight.

Pileated is much larger and mostly black, with the red crest and bold white neck stripes. It also spends more time digging into large decaying wood, while flickers are famous for feeding on the ground for ants. Our Flicker vs Pileated comparison puts the clues side by side.

Pileated Woodpecker vs American Crow

The two can overlap in apparent size at a distance. A crow is all black without the red crest or white neck stripes. In flight, a Pileated shows bold white underwing patches and usually has a more undulating woodpecker flight.

If the bird lands on a trunk and braces vertically while hammering wood, that behaviour quickly moves Pileated to the top of the list.

How long do Pileated Woodpeckers live?

Cornell reports the oldest known Pileated Woodpecker at at least 12 years and 11 months. As with other banding records, that is a maximum known age rather than the age most birds reach.