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Pileated Woodpecker

Identification:

  • Long neck
  • Chisel-like bill
  • Mostly black
  • White stripe on face and neck
  • Red crest
  • Males have a red stripe on the cheek
  • 16-19 inches long
  • 26 to 30 inch wing span
  • weighs between 8 to 14 ounzes
  • They show white on the wings when in flight

One of the largest forest birds on the continent

  • Forest birds require standing dead trees and fallen wood to habitat an area
  • These woodpeckers can live in a variety of forests from south to north to east and northwest
  • Common in SWFL during all seasons
  • Very loud and distinct sounding bird
  • Pair stays together on its territory year-round and does not migrate

Pileated woodpeckers create distinct rectangular-shaped cavities in rotten wood to retrieve insects

  • Eats berries off of limbs (including poison ivy berries)
  • Scavenges through wood for ant hills (carpenter ants make up 60% of its diet)
  • Eats fruits and nuts
  • Eats insects including termites, larvae and beetles

Pileated Woodpeckers are important ecologically to many bird species since a variety of animals use old and excavated homes (since the woodpeckers do not re-use their homes). Animals that seek refuge in these areas are:

  • Forest song birds
  • Raccoons
  • Other woodpecker species
  • Tree nesting ducks
  • Owls
  • Wrens

Information provided by : https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pileated_Woodpecker/id                         and http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/pileated-woodpecker

To hear the Pileated Woodpecker’s call visit: http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/pileated-woodpecker

Shanna Weber

Photos courtesy of Ian Weber