Fort Bend's largest woodpecker, Pileated Woodpeckers mate for life with the males taking nest-providing very seriously. Males take responsibility for hollowing out nesting cavities in dead trees and particularly tall trees with the female helping finish. Generally making new nests each year, takes 3 to 6 weeks.
Classic forward white under-pattern of wings, which they flap like crows with long, deliberate strokes.
The two photos above appear to be more about training young, not nest-building, as the trees are live. If you see a Pileated pecking on a tree, the area is likely dead and usually full of their favorite meal, Carpenter Ants, or with termites or woodboring beetle larvae. And can they can “saw in” with a triangular cut.
Pileateds will also eat fruits and nuts and occasionally feed from backyard seed and suet feeders.
Extremely territorial (except in winter) a pair will patrol their woodland territory but are otherwise shy.
Male Pilieated Woodpecker above. Both males and females have the classic red-crested head and look of “Woody Woodpecker” and are around 16” in length or about the size of a crow.
Female Pileated Woodpecker above. Females’ crests are slightly smaller, but otherwise identical to males. Juveniles for a very short period of time are more muted and “brownish.”
Pileateds have extremely long tongues, and their feeding on decayed parts of trees provide nests hollows for owls, smaller woodpeckers, swifts, and pine martens.
Woodpeckers and wood creepers are found throughout the Globe. In the Costa Rica rain forest, a very similar bird to our Pileated Woodpecker is the Lineated Woodpecker. While their breasts differ and the Lineated are slightly smaller (12" to 14" versus 16" for the Pileated), Central American woodpeckers have many similarities to our common woodpeckers in behavior and markings--just a different address. To see our Southern woodpecker cousins, press here, to go to Margaret Sloans' website.
For a contrast of the breast as well as see a typical nest excavation of a dead tree for a hollow for nesting, go here. Another contrast is the Lineated Female is more actively involved in overall nest building.
Other Fort Bend woodpeckers already featured on this blog are:
The 9" long Red-bellied Woodpecker
Photos copyrighted by international birder Margaret Sloan.
See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 150+ bird species just in her suburban Fort Bend,Texas backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.
Researched and Edited by Janice Scanlan.