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Pileated Woodpecker
bullshot
Member Posts: 14,679 ✭✭✭✭
Had two of them in the back yard (mating season). Anyone else have these where you live?
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you"
Comments
I have a bunch, sometimes they hammer on a building. Frequent my birdfeeders daily. Mystery to me why their head doesnt fall off the way they hammer a tree.
I've seen them most years here in central IN. Plenty of bugs for them as I have a few hundred trees.
I have them but have never been able to get a picture of one. They fly in such a pattern and don't light anywhere very long. Don
I see them quite often here in southern WV when I am out in the woods, especially during deer season when I am out a lot. Also a very good pic
Quite a few of 'em here in NW Montana. Great for thinning out the carpenter ant population.
We don't see the Pileated woodpeckers on the bird feeder but we have a few Red-Bellied- Woodpeckers that come to the feeder daily.
I see them in South East PA.
We have them in Illinois, I see them every so often. Big bird as far as woodpeckers go.
Yep, we have them here on the Olympic Peninsula. Don't see a whole lot of them though, but do see them on occasion.
Largest woodpecker in North America (the Ivory bill was the largest but it is believed to be extinct).
I see them every once in a while in our woods.
Joe
We have a lot of them around my place in northern lower Michigan. See them so often that I kind of don't pay much attention to them. I do have this other woodpecker, a Red Headed Woodpecker that comes around every morning and just loves to hammer out messages on my satellite dish that is mounted on the roof of my garage. I swear that this birds loud hammering can be heard by other birds of its kind a mile away! I also hear replies to the messages in the distance.
Yeah, they are the occasional visitor. They like to make BIG holes in the cedars and pines around the yard and pond, so I am not exactly fond of them. We have a lot of Hairy, Red Bellied and Downey woodpeckers that hang out year round. It is fun to watch them bring their young ones to the suet feeders. The parents get them trained early so they don't have to work as hard bringing them food. Bob
We have them here in SW Arkansas. Our suet feeders attract Downy, Redhead, and Flickers, but haven't seen a Piliated there. They nested in a big oak several years in a row, but the tree fell in a storm. I still see and hear them in the woods behind our house,
Yes, we have them in Western Peoples Republic of N.Y.
My favorite bird, they show up in our yard on occasion and I do hear them in the woods often.
That picture is of a male by the way, as it has the full top red crest and side face red "mustache" that the female does not.
Very nice picture.
🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
They have an odd range which misses most of the mountain west and the southwest. They range into E Kansas and OK, but I have never seen one W of MO. We have downey, hairy, ladderback (feed in the back yard), Lewis's, Gila and flickers.
Plenty of them in Et and WNC.
Before I wrapped my house, siding and exposed white pine timbers, the boring bees had a free for all.
Boring bee larva would hatch and the big pecker woods had a a blast. Wake me up chopping like an axe and big chips flying everywhere.
Woody Woodpecker was thought to be a Pileated Woodpecker. Walt Disney spent some of his youth in Missouri.
Perhaps that's where he got the idea for the cartoon.
Wasn't Woody developed by Walter Lantz?
I stand corrected.
And voiced by Lantz' wife.
They're all PITAs this time of year. They're banging on gutters, deck boards, etc. I'm guessing they're advertising for a mate but…..
With a pecker like that you never know?
I see them daily here in Tennessee, as I live on the edge of several hundred acres of woods. The Ozark Mountain folks called them LordWhatta Woodpeckers when I lived there. Then there was the little girl that called the one that visited her yard "Pillie Ate It."
I see them in northeastern Iowa. Much larger than other pecker woods 😏👍🏾
I see them here in CT
Ever notice the Pileated mark their territory by hammering on THEIR favorite certain trees, especially when they first do their morning flight?
I noticed such when on Deer stands at first light in the fall. Same Woodpecker making his rounds and also doing their verbal squaking noises.
They prefer nesting/roosting in the tallest hollow trees they can find several feet from the ground, tall sycamores are a favorite. They can destroy utility power poles easily once they start trying to make a hole in the pole.
Some old timers called them wood hens. Heard rumors they were considered a tasty meal back in the depression days.
They will also stop pecking and carefully listen to the tree for worms/borers inside or under the bark. When the woodpecker is listening he seems to be in deep thought with his thinking cap on. They also have very good eyesight and usually will not hang around very close once they spot a human.
Some city folks call them Pterodactyls. (dinosaur bird)
https://dinosaurpictures.org/Pterodactyl-pictures
Wood hen is common name around here.