Pileated Woodpecker

Dryocopus pileatus

Audubon Illustration

John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.

Range & Recent Observations

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About the Pileated Woodpecker

The pileated woodpecker ( PY-lee-ay-tid, PIL-ee-; Dryocopus pileatus) is a large, crow-sized woodpecker with a prominent red crest, white neck stripe, and a mostly black body. This woodpecker is native to North America, where it is the largest confirmed extant woodpecker species and the third-largest extant species of woodpecker in the world, after the great slaty woodpecker and the black woodpecker. It inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific Coast. This woodpecker is primarily an insectivore, eating insects that live in trees; it is famous for making large, nearly rectangular carvings into trees, which are used to extract prey inside the tree or to make a nest.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name: Dryocopus pileatus
Family: Woodpeckers
Order: Piciformes

Similar species

Other members of the woodpeckers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

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