Listen to the Pileated Woodpecker Call!
Can you identify the call of the pileated woodpecker? Listen and learn about this woodland bird.
The pileated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America (after the ivory-billed woodpecker, which is presumed to be extinct). These birds can reach up to 19 inches from tail to tip and sport a wingspan of up to 30 inches!
The pileated woodpecker gets its name from the bright-red crest on its head. “Pileated,” which comes from the Latin word for “-capped,” ultimately stems from a type of Ancient Greek hat known as a pilos (pileus in Latin).
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In late winter, the male pileated woodpecker prepares for the upcoming nesting season, which typically starts in April. Using his incredible bill, he hammers out a nesting area in a dead tree and hopes to attract a mate. Once paired, pileated woodpeckers usually hang around their territory throughout the year, defending it from interlopers. Amazingly, they do not reuse their nests from year to year, which makes the hollow an attractive home for other forest dwellers such as raccoons and owls.
Have you heard a pileated woodpecker in the wild? Add your comments below. Be sure to let us know where you live or where you’ve heard this bird sound before!
Click here to listen to the sounds of other birds! Bird sounds compliments of The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Heidi Stonehill
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Just happened to catch two new to my area today in NW Indiana on the south shore of Lake Michigan. Was able to take a pic before they flew off from the yard into landtrust neighbors next door. Huge and lovely birds. Hope I keep seeing more daily.
I live in Appomattox, VA. Out in the sticks. We have these birds come through our property just about every evening in the spring. A very impressive bird.
We live in Southeast Texas. We have about 20 heavily wooded acres of hard wood, pine and other types of trees. We have lived here for over 30 years and they are here every year. It always amazes me how hard they peck those trees.
We have been feeding birds sunflower seeds for years in Hope, Arkansas, and have woodpecker suet pads on our pine tree. We noticed a pair of pileated woodpeckers last year and have been thrilled to see them this year. Thanks for the information about their nests. One has even pecked a large hold in a telephone pole in our front yard.
We have the woodpeckers at our cabin in the woods on the Ausable River in Crawford County, Northern Michigan. I feed them suet. We love them!
We have a pair across the road from us in the 3 Mile Bay Wildlife Area on Lake Oneida in West Monroe, NY.
We have a pair that regularly visit our yard. We live about a couple hundred yards from a creek and they have a great time there but we hear them and see them a lot. Just a couple of days ago I got lucky enough to be out under a tree cleaning up limbs from a storm and had one land in a tree about forty feet away from me. Love their noisy entry. They make quite a racket.
Sorry I forgot to say that I live in extreme south east Kansas and these guys are not unusual to see. We are very fortunate!
As a teen I heard and saw many of them while squirrel hunting in the hardwood forests near Parsons, Tn on the Tennessee River in the 1960s!
We have a pair that are regulars in our 10 acres of woods Last year they had 3 young which they brought to visit our sunflower and fat feeders we live in Cooks Creek Manitoba Canada near winnipeg
