Species Fact Profile: Pileated Woodpecker (Drycopus pileatus)

                                                                  Pileated Woodpecker

Drycopus pileatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Range: Southern Canada, Eastern United States, Western United States(absent from the central part of the country)

Habitat: Mature Hardwood Deciduous Forest

Diet: Insects, especially ants and beetle larvae.  Also feed on some nuts, fruits, and berries

Social Grouping: Territorial Pairs 

Reproduction:  Monogamous.  Excavate large cavity nests lined with woodchips in dead trees (about 5 meters off the forest floor), made by male to attract the female.  Breed in the spring.  3-5 eggs incubated for 12-16 days.  Young fledge at one month

Lifespan: 12 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern 

• Second largest woodpecker native to the United States (possibly the largest living species, depending on the status of the possibly-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker).  Body length 40-50 centimeters, wingspan 65-75 centimeters, weight 250-400 grams.
• Primarily black plumage with a white line down the side of the throat and white under the wings (mostly visible in flight).  Prominent red crest ("pileated" means "crested").  Males have a red line from the bill to the throat; in females, this line is black.
• Feed by hammering holes into trees, then using long, barbed tongue to extract insects
• Announce their territorial status by drumming on trees with their bill, up to 30 taps per second (preference of using hollow trees, which allow for the loudest drumming).  If confronted with intruders, they may chase them off, beating with their wings and striking with their bills.  More tolerant of intruders during the winter months.
• Fly in an undulating pattern characteristic of many woodpeckers, slow and strong, but somewhat uneven (overall steadier and less-undulating than many smaller species of woodpecker)
• Nest cavities are abandoned after chicks are fledged, and then serve as important shelters for a variety of other species, such as owls, wood ducks, bats, and raccoons
• Potential nest predators include martens, weasels, snakes, and foxes.  Adults have few predators, but may opportunistically be taken by raptorial birds
• Two subspecies: the slightly larger northern pileated woodpecker (D. p. abieticola) and the southern pileated (D. p. pileatus).
• Common across much of their range, numbers increasing in some areas.  Decline in the absence of large trees needed for nesting and feeding.  Disliked by some landowners due to the potential damage that they may inflict on trees and homes