Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)

Compiled by Lisa S. Graham
Photo credits: Thierry Grandmont, Macaulay Library (Pileated Woodpecker photo); Universal Studios (Woody Woodpecker drawing)

Thanks to Universal Studios, anyone who watched the Woody Woodpecker cartoon as a kid knows exactly what a Pileated Woodpecker looks like as it was the model for the character created by Walter Lantz in the 1940s.  This woodpecker can’t use a fishing pole or drive a car like Woody Woodpecker can, but it digs excavations in trees so deep that other types of woodpeckers and even some House Wrens will come to feed.

Like the cartoon version, the Pileated Woodpecker is very large (crow-sized), it has a jaunty red crest, and a whinnying, “laughing” cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk call.  Both males and females are mostly black with a white face stripe that continues down their neck.  Males have a red cheek stripe as well.  They have a heavy, chisel-like bill which they use to drill rectangular holes in search of their favored food, carpenter ants.  They will drill a foot or more into the trees and use their long, barbed tongue to extract their prey.  They will also eat other types of ants, beetle larvae, termites, and other insects, as well as wild fruit and nuts.

Breeding pairs are monogamous and have large territories; if one of the pair dies, the surviving bird will often get a new mate.  In many instances, this is the only way that other Pileated Woodpeckers have a chance to breed.  When courting a mate, they will spread their wings to show off their white wing patch, raise their crest, and swing their head back and forth.  A mated pair will remain in their territory year-round, chasing off rivals during mating season but willing to tolerate others during the winter.

Males begin the nest cavity and complete most of the work, with females adding their contribution as the cavity nears completion.  It takes between 3 and 6 weeks to build the cavity, which is often used by other species once the woodpeckers have fledged their young.  Pileated Woodpeckers rarely use the same nesting cavity more than once.  The female lays between 3 and 5 eggs, and the pair hatches only one brood per year.  The eggs incubate for up to 18 days, and nestlings remain in the nest for up to 31 days where their parents feed them by regurgitating food.  Even after they fledge, the young may remain with their parents for another two to three months.

Central Texas is not part of their common migration, breeding, or non-breeding areas, but there have been sightings, especially in the woods of the Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory area.  To learn more about the plethora of birding opportunities at Hornsby Bend, sign up our “Hornsby Bend in the Springtime” class that starts on April 1.

Sources include All About Birds (Cornell) and Audubon Field Guide.   Photo credits:  Thierry Grandmont, Macaulay Library; Universal Studios