SCORES & OUTDOORS: The elusive pileated woodpecker, not to be confused with ivory-billed
pileated woodpecker (left), ivory-billed woodpecker (right)
by Roland D. Hallee
You catch a fast-moving, swooping bird navigate through the thick forest of trees. It looks more like a shadow. What was that? It lands on the trunk of a nearby tree, and begins a slow, rolling whacking sound against the bark of that dead tree. You look closer, it’s a pileated woodpecker.
Although very common in the eastern United States, it can sometimes be quite elusive. You don’t generally see them often, because they prefer the protection of dense deciduous or coniferous forests.
The pileated woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, lives in Canada from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia. It can be found in most areas of the eastern United States, and west from Washington state south to California and east to Idaho and North Dakota.
Their numbers have increased from 1966 to 2014, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding popultion of 1.9 million with 67 percent living in the U.S. and 33 percent in Canada.
The reason for the subject of this bird this week is the numerous photos that readers have been sending to this newspaper.
I have seen several of these birds around camp, and even saw one, once, sitting on an apple tree stump in my backyard, in the middle of Waterville.
The pileated woodpecker is one of the biggest forest birds on the continent. It is close in size to the crow.
They drill distinctive rectangular-shaped holes in rotten wood to get at carpenter ants and other insects. They are loud with whinnying calls. They also drum on dead trees. There flight is undulated (a bounding motion) as opposed to other birds straight flight paths.
Besides carpenter ants, pileated woodpeckers like woodboring beetle larvae, termites and other insects such as flies, spruce budworm, caterpillars, cockroaches and grasshoppers. They will also eat wild fruits and nuts. However, ants comprise 40 percent of their diet. Occasionally, you will find a pileated woodpecker at backyard feeders for seeds or suet.
Building a nest is quite a construction project that can last up to six weeks. The male begins excavating the nest cavity and does most of the work. The entrance hole is oblong rather than the circular shape of most woodpecker holes. For the finishing touches, the bird climbs all the way into the hole and chips away at it from the inside. The female begins to contribute as the nest nears completion. The cavity depth can be from 10 to 24 inches.
Of course, then you have the disagreement on how to pronounce the name. Well, in actuality, it can be pronounced two ways. You can use he soft “i” as in pill-ee-ated, or the hard “i” in pile-ee-ated. So, now we should have no more arguments about that subject.
Many people, though, confuse the pileated woodpecker with the ivory-billed woodpecker. The ivory-billed woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America, other than the imperial woodpecker of Mexico, which is feared to be extinct. The pileated is the second largest. Because of habitat destruction and, to a lesser extent, hunting, the numbers of ivory-billed woodpeckers, Campephilus principalis, have dwindled to the point where it is uncertain whether any remain, though there have been reports that they have been seen again, in Florida and Arkansas, although nothing has been substantiated. According to various sources, including the Cornell University Lab on Ornithology, almost no forests today can maintain an ivory-billed woodpecker population. Ivory-billed woodpeckers were most prominent in the southeastern U.S.
So, if you see that large woodpecker in Maine woods, you are most probably seeing a pileated woodpecker.
Roland’s trivia question of the week:
Which Boston Red Sox player holds the club record for intentional walks, Wade Boggs, Carl Yastrzemski, or David Ortiz?
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I, for one, do not believe that the Ivory Billed woodpecker is extinct. A fifty thousand dollar reward has been supposedly offered for evidence of their continued existence and for leading scientists to either their nesting or feeding grounds. I have managed to capture video of a male that is one of a family of five that has only weeks ago disbanded after more than a year together living together in one tall dead pine tree. I contacted the people in Arkansas who offered the fifty thousand and was told that because I live in Central Louisiana I needed to call someone closer. They never even asked me for a look at my footage. The time is ticking away on that six month extension and I would like to know who is licking their chops awaiting the delisting of these beautiful birds and why. I have emailed two other conservationist agencies and still yet received no response. Not that I think that they will actually disappear any time soon but I could have really used the money that they apparently dangled because they believed that they didn’t have to worry about paying it while looking to the public like they cared. Comments like you have made in your article are the reason that nobody is even paying enough attention to tell the differences between the Ivory Billed and the Pileated Woodpecker. Shame on all of you for inducing unnecessary guilt on people while blinding them to reality.
Anthony, I would be more than happy to evaluate any video or audio evidence you have. I am surprised nobody has followed up on your report from Louisiana. If the author of this article could connect the two of us, that would be appreciated.