Scientific Name:
Dryocopus pileatus
Length:
15.8-19.3 in (40-49 cm)
Weight:
8.8-12.3 oz (250-350 g)
Wingspan:
26.0-29.5 in (66-75 cm)
Nest:
At a nest site, both sexes may tap or drum on wood, and consists of a cavity in a dead tree or in dead branch of a live tree, sometimes in utility pole, usually 15-80' above ground. Generally make a new cavity each year, with both sexes helping to excavate.
Eggs:
3-5. White. Incubation is by both sexes (male incubating at night and part of day), about 18 days.
Feeding Behavior:
They look for food 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.
Young:
Both parents feed nestlings, by regurgitation. Young leave nest 26-28 days after hatching, may remain with parents 2-3 months.
Range:
The pileated woodpecker's breeding habitat is forested areas across Canada, the eastern United States, and parts of the Pacific Coast. This bird favors mature forests and heavily wooded parks. They are permanent residents, but individuals sometimes wander far from breeding areas.
Brief Description:
Pileated woodpeckers are mainly black with a red crest, and have a white line down the sides of the throat. Younger specimens tend to have less curved crests, or "mohawks" as some refer to them. They show white on the wings in flight.