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Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopuspileatus

Description:

The Pileated woodpecker is about the size of a crow.
  • Size: 16 to 19 inches (40-49 cm)
  • Wingspan: 26 to 30 inches (66-75 cm)
  • Weight: 8.9 to 12.4 ounces (250-350 g)

They are mostly black with a red crest, white markings ontheir head and white linings on the under side of their wings. The picture above shows a male. You can see how the red goes all the way to the base of the bill. On a female, the area between the eyes will be brownish-grey.


Pileated Woodpecker

Diet:

They eat large amounts of carpenter ants as well as other insects, seeds and fruit. You can attract a Pileated woodpecker to your bird feeders using suet bird food mixes.

The picture above shows a young bird begging mom for more yummy suet.

Sex Differences:

Colors are similar between the male and the female. The male has a red crown and red forehead with red to the base of the bill. The female has a red crown, greyish-brown forehead and is black to the base of the bill.

Nesting:

These woodpeckers are cavity-nesters. The cavity is excavated in dead wood 15 to 70 feet high. The entrance hole will be about 3 1/2 inches with a cavity depth of 10 to 24 inches. Nest will contain 3 to 5 white eggs. The incubation period is 15 to 16 days.

Range:

A Few Things You Probably Didn't Know:

  • The feeding holes are recognizable bytheir unique rectangular shape, usually 3 to 6 inches. The excavated feeding holes often attract other woodpeckers for feeding.
  • Territory size is 150 to 200 acres. Apair of Pileated woodpeckers will remain in their territory all year around.
  • Very distinct "cuk-cuk-cuk" call. Loud drumming is done by unmated males to attract females and between mated pairs as part of courtship.

Click here to learn how to attract wild birds to your wild bird feeders.

Click here for information on other backyard birds.


Please tell us about the Pileated Woodpecker visiting your feeders.

Pileated Woodpeckers are my favorite of all wild birds to visit my backyard feeders. If you're fortunate enough to see them in your yard please tell us about them.

What type of feeders do you use? What type of food did they eat? My readers would love to hear your story. It is easy to do just fill in the areas below and you can even add pictures. One you're finished you will have your very own page published with your name in the title!

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What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Climbing the tree  starstarstarstarstar
I have seened and photographed a Pileated Woodpecker in my backyard. I live on a shared acerage and was surprised to see this beautiful bird. We have ...

A big surprise  starstarstarstarstar
We live in Winnipeg,Manitoba just at the edge of the south end of the city. We have 6 feeders in our backyard, two of which are for the larger birds containing ...

4 Pileated Woodpeckers  Not rated yet
Today I watched 4 pileated wood peckers visit my hanging suet feeder. It holds 2 cakes and is made of recycled plastic designed for them. two of them hung ...

Pileated Woodpecker and Shemp of the 3 stooges  Not rated yet
I have at least 4 pileated woodpeckers that come several times to my suet feeder each day.

I mean you can hear them coming a mile off they sound like ...

Sighting in Holts Summit MO  Not rated yet
They are daily visiting my neighbors hummingbird feeder (you got it). It grabs on, wraps it's tail around the bottom, and drinks the nectar from the hummingbird ...

Monster  Not rated yet
This is an awesome bird to watch. It had come to my feeder sparingly for the last three years but has came everyday for the past three weeks. It looks ...

coolest bird I have ever seen!  Not rated yet
yesterday I was in the kitchen and I happened to is something moving on the tree outside the kitchen window I looked out the window and I took a video ...

Woodpeckers and Mating Season  Not rated yet
I have a pileated woodpecker attracted to my kitchen window. He occasionally does drum on it but mostly just looks at his reflection and I'm guessing it'...

A Great Video on Pileated Woodpeckers  Not rated yet
A National Geographic video on Pileated Woodpeckers




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