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Pileated Woodpecker

Status Uncommon resident. Breeds. Generally restricted to old-growth woodlands remote from settlement. Though sedentary by nature, it shows a tendency to disperse over the countryside in late autumn. It is becoming more common and has been seen near settlements more often in recent years.

Description Length: 43-50 cm. Adult male: Top of head has a bright scarlet crest; a scarlet mark extends back from lower mandible; rest of head boldly marked with contrasting black and white, the white extending down sides of neck to wings; back and underparts sooty black; wings black with white bars seen only in flight; bill is horn-coloured. Adult female: Similar but lacks red mark behind base of lower mandible and on forepart of her crown.

Breeding Nest: An excavation in a hole 3-20 m or more up a large tree. The entrance hole is sometimes round but at other times elliptical, the vertical diameter always being greater. Eggs: 3-4; glossy white, as though highly polished. A nest discovered at Black River Lake, Kings County, on 14 May 1922 contained four fresh eggs. It was in a white birch tree stub about 18 m up, in open hardwoods; the male only was in attendance. The eggs were deposited on dry chips 40 cm below the base of the entrance hole. On 10 June 1915 at Albany, Annapolis County, two young were seen which, by their appearance, had been out of the nest about 10 days. A nest in the Sable River area of Shelburne County visited on 30 May 1955 by Harrison F. Lewis was in a large stump of Yellow Birch about 8 m up and had a circular entrance hole. Harry Brennan found a nest near his home in Springville, Pictou County, on 15 May 1968 not over 4.5 m up a large, dead Yellow Birch; it contained two eggs and one newly hatched young.

Range Breeds in forested areas from the southern Mackenzie Valley east to Nova Scotia, south to central California, the Gulf Coast and southern Florida. Mainly resident.

Remarks Those who have travelled in heavily timbered woodlands may have noticed dead stumps riddled and deeply furrowed over parts of their surface, the work of a Pileated Woodpecker searching for wood-boring ants.

It is by far the largest of our woodpeckers. When seen in its natural habitat for the first time, it is an impressive sight not soon forgotten. Its unusual call is very much like that of the Northern Flicker but differs somewhat in quality of tone. Its flight is sometimes direct but more often undulating, with its bold, white wing patches conspicuous.

All of our woodpeckers are protected throughout the year by federal and provincial laws.