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Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Steve Williams · Saturday, January 17th 2015 at 11:45AM · 352 views

I have one of these now. The thing is huge, I thought it would break the suet feeder!

A big, dashing bird with a flaming crest, the largest woodpecker in North America (except the Ivory-bill, which is almost certainly extinct). Excavating deep into rotten wood to get at the nests of carpenter ants, the Pileated leaves characteristic rectangular holes in dead trees. This species became rare in eastern North America with clearing of forests in centuries past, but has gradually increased in numbers again since about the beginning of the 20th century. Where unmolested, it even lives in parks and woodlots around the edges of large cities.

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Steve Williams Coatesville, PA

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Comments (3)

MIISRAEL Bride Saturday, January 17th 2015 at 7:19PM

Beautiful bird. Do you think they may be others, or a migration happening around your town?
You might be seeing more of them.

Steve Williams Saturday, January 17th 2015 at 8:14PM

I think this species probably is solitary and has a pretty large territory. I was hearing him/her all morning, both the drumming and the call are very distinctive. The downy woodpeckers do flock with the songbirds though.

Steve Williams Saturday, January 17th 2015 at 8:23PM

Although allegedly based on an acorn woodpecker, Woody shares many characteristics in common with the pileated woodpecker in terms of both physical appearance as well as his characteristic laugh, which resembles the call of the pileated woodpecker. These similarities are apparently the result of the artistic license of the creators, and have caused much confusion within the birding community amongst those who have attempted to classify Woody's species.[1]

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