Category: Finger Lakes Region of New York State

Have you wondered, “What is ‘pileated’ about a Pileated Woodpecker? The Latin word Latin pileatus means capped, so the adjective refers to the red “cap” the bird wears. Pileated Woodpeckers mmainly eat insects, especially carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae. They also eat fruits, nuts, and berries, including poison ivy berries. Pileated woodpeckers often chip out large and roughly rectangular holes in trees while searching out insects, especially ant colonies. They also lap up ants by reaching with their long tongues into crevices. They may forage around the sides of human homes or even cars and can be observed feeding at suet-type feeders, as you can see below.

Usually, pileated woodpeckers excavate their large nests in the cavities of dead trees. Woodpeckers make such large holes in dead trees that the holes can cause a small tree to break in half. The roost of a pileated woodpecker usually has multiple entrance holes. In April, the hole made by the male attracts a female for mating and raising their young. Once the brood is raised, the birds abandon the hole and do not use it the next year. When abandoned, these holes—made similarly by all woodpeckers—provide good homes in future years for many forest songbirds and a wide variety of other animals. Ecologically, the entire woodpecker family is important to the wellbeing of many other bird species. The pileated woodpecker also nests in boxes about 4.6 m (15 ft) off the ground. The large cavities made by pileated woodpeckers during their nesting process not only serve as a home for the birds but also play an essential role in the forest ecosystem by contributing to nutrient cycling. Woodpecker cavities can lead to increased soil nutrient levels and microbial activity, providing a nutrient-rich environment for other plants to grow.

A pileated woodpecker pair stays together on its territory all year round and is not migratory. They defend the territory in all seasons but tolerate floaters during the winter. Drumming is most common during courtship and to proclaim a territory. Hollow trees are often used to make the most resonant sound possible. The pattern is typically a fairly slow, deep rolling that lasts about three seconds.

Pileated woodpeckers have been observed to move to another site if any eggs have fallen out of the nest—a rare habit in birds. The cavity is unlined except for wood chips. Both parents incubate three to five eggs for 12 to 16 days. The average clutch size is four per nest. The young may take a month to fledge. The oldest known pileated woodpecker was 12 years and 11 months old. Predators at the nest can include American and Pacific martens, weasels, squirrels, rat snakes, and gray foxes. Free-flying adults have fewer predators but can be taken in some numbers by Cooper’s hawks, northern goshawks, red-shouldered hawks, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, bald eagles, golden eagles and barred owls.

Reference: “Pileated Woodpecker” Wikipedia

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