The pileated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America, a crow-sized bird with a flaming red crest that excavates large, rectangular cavities in dead trees in search of carpenter ants. Its powerful drumming can be heard over a kilometer away and serves both to locate insect galleries and to communicate with mates and rivals. The cavities it creates become critical nesting habitat for numerous other species including owls, ducks, and small mammals.
About the Woodpecker
Dryocopus pileatus
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💡 Fun Facts
01
A woodpecker's tongue wraps around its skull when retracted — it is anchored to a bone that coils around the back of the cranium.
02
The pileated woodpecker hammers wood at up to 20 times per second, absorbing impacts up to 1,200 g-force — 250 times what would cause a concussion in a human.
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Its rectangular excavations are so distinctive that their presence is used by ecologists as a sign of old-growth or late-successional forest.
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Pileated woodpeckers are monogamous and may mate for life, maintaining territories of up to 400 hectares.
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Spongy bone between the skull and bill, hyoid cartilage, and a thick skull plate act as a multi-layer shock absorption system.
📍 Where to Find This Animal
Habitat Types:
Temperate Forest
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