Appearance: A large bird about 19″ in length. They’re mostly black with white stripes on their face and neck with white underwings. The flaming red triangle-shaped crest is unmistakable and the male also has a red stripe on his cheek. The female is the same except her crest does not go all the way to her bill. And, she does not have a red stripe on her cheek.
Diet: Insects, especially carpenter ants.
Feeder food: Suet, shelled peanuts, safflower seed, sunflower seed, and
songbird fruit & nut seed mix.
Habitat: Forests and wooded areas that offer tall deciduous (leafy trees like maple & beech), coniferous trees (like evergreen & pine), and lower fruit & nut-bearing trees & shrubs.
Nesting: They excavate their own cavity in a tree. They have 3-6 white eggs per brood and incubate them for 15-18 days.
Migration: Pileated woodpeckers are not migrators. They remain in their year-round range every season of the year.
Year-round range: Canada’s southern provinces, the west coast of Washington, Oregon & California, and the eastern half of the US.
Range Map
