Pileated Woodpecker
A huge crested woodpecker whose ringing laugh and rectangular excavations announce mature forest even when the bird stays hidden.
Artwork inspired by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith
Pileated woodpeckers excavate deep into dead and dying trees for carpenter ants and beetle larvae, leaving distinctive tall rectangular holes. Those cavities later shelter owls, ducks, bats, and other forest animals.
Its loud accelerating series of notes can travel through woodland long before the bird crosses an opening. Look for leave standing dead trees when they pose no safety risk. Year-round; calls and drumming are easiest to notice in late winter and spring.
- Size
- Nearly crow-sized
- Feeding sign
- Rectangular holes
- Favorite prey
- Carpenter ants
Quick guide
- Listen
- Loud rising laugh
- Look
- Black body + red crest
Field marks for Pileated Woodpecker
- Head
- White stripes frame the face; males also show a red cheek stripe.
- Flight
- Broad white underwing patches flash during bounding flight.
- Tree
- Fresh pale woodchips beneath a rectangular excavation indicate recent work.
- Distance
- Pause after hearing calls; the bird may circle behind trunks before appearing.
Good to know
Large rectangular feeding excavations and a loud laughing call may reveal the bird first. Stay back from active cavities and avoid call playback that repeatedly interrupts territorial behavior.
Notice these
- Large red crest
- White face stripes
- Black body
- Rectangular feeding holes