Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 15.7–19.3 in
40–49 cm - Wingspan
- 26–29.5 in
66–75 cm - Weight
- 8.8–12.3 oz
250–350 g
Other Names
- Grand pic (French)
- (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- The Pileated Woodpecker digs characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half.
- A Pileated Woodpecker pair stays together on its territory all year round. It will defend the territory in all seasons, but will tolerate floaters during the winter.
- The feeding excavations of a Pileated Woodpecker are so extensive that they often attract other birds. Other woodpeckers, as well as House Wrens, may come and feed there.
- The Pileated Woodpecker prefers large trees for nesting. In young forests, it will use any large trees remaining from before the forest was cut. Because these trees are larger than the rest of the forest, they present a lightning hazard to the nesting birds.
Habitat
Forest
Found in deciduous or coniferous forests with large trees.
Food
Insects
Insects, primarily carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae, fruits, and nuts.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 1–6 eggs
- Egg Description
- White.
- Condition at Hatching
- Naked and helpless.
Nest Description
Cavity in tree, usually dead tree. Cavity unlined except for wood chips.
Nest Placement
Cavity
Behavior
Bark Forager
Gleans from branches, trunks, and logs. Makes deep rectangular excavations in trees and logs. Pries off long slivers of wood to expose ants.
Conservation
Least Concern
Pileated Woodpecker populations declined greatly with the clearing of the eastern forests. The species rebounded in the middle 20th century, and has been increasing slowly but steadily in most of its range. Only in Arkansas do numbers seem to be going down.
Credits
- Bull, E. L., and J. A. Jackson. 1995. Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). In The Birds of North America, No. 148 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.