Pileated woodpecker female, Ash, NC, 2012. Dick Daniels. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Pileated woodpecker male, 2011. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

pileated woodpecker

Dryocopus pileatus

Identification: 
This is a really big bird, a prehistoric looking woodpecker at least as big as a crow.  It has a bright red crest (total for males, partial for females), thin neck and big head, a chunky and big beak, black and white striped face and mostly black back feathers.  Males also have a red “moustache.”  In flight it undulates and displays black and white pattern under the wing. 

Behavior:
The pileated woodpecker excavates distinctive oblong holes in dead trees.  It cries “cakcakcak” in an accelerating and rising and then falling cadence.  It also drums loudly.  It is primarily a “bark forager” and carpenter ants are its main food.    

What brings it to the SBG?
Food, nesting sites.  It depends on dead trees of considerable girth. 

When can I see it?
Year-round, but it seems to be more visible in fall and spring.