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Pileated Woodpecker

Dryocopus pileatus ORDER: PICIFORMES FAMILY: PICIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Pileated Woodpecker Photo

Nearly as large as a crow, the Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in most of North America. Its loud ringing calls and huge, rectangular excavations in dead trees announce its presence in forests across the continent.

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At a GlanceHelp

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

status via IUCN

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.

Range Map Help

Pileated Woodpecker Range Map
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