11.02.25: Giant woodpecker

‍I don’t often see Pileated Woodpeckers during my photo hikes. When I do, I consider it a treat, especially when the woodpecker is perched in a location that is suitable for photography.

‍But I also think of one of my favorite cartoon characters from my childhood, the mischievous and extremely hyperactive Woody Woodpecker. The large size and red crest fit, and Woody’s characteristic laugh is similar to the call of a Pileated Woodpecker. Legend has it that a Pileated Woodpecker served as the model for Woody when Walter Lantz created the character in 1940, although it’s likely that Lantz included characteristics from a number of species and his own imagination to create Woody.

‍Pileated Woodpeckers are huge, standing up to 19 inches tall. That’s about the size of a crow and twice as large as a Blue Jay. The birds are mostly black with white stripes on the face and neck and a flaming-red crest. Males have a red stripe on the cheek. In flight, the bird shows large white areas on the underwings and small white crescents on the upper sides.

‍I found this male Pileated Woodpecker working on a fallen tree deep in the forest in Sharon Woods Metro Park north of Columbus, Ohio. It was so close that I had to take a few steps back to get it in the shot. The bird looked at me a couple of times, but went back to work on the tree.

‍And that work was impressive. When a Pileated Woodpecker is finished with a tree, it looks like someone has taken a jackhammer to the wood. Sometimes the cavity created by the woodpecker is so deep that it can cause a smaller tree to break.

‍When a Pileated Woodpecker is drilling on a tree, it is chasing insects, often colonies of ants— one of its favorite foods. And they are active, flying from tree to tree to drill the wood in search of another meal. 

‍It’s this constant activity, plus the fact that the birds are usually high in trees surrounded by branches, that makes Pileated Woodpeckers so difficult for me to photograph. I was fortunate for this photograph that the bird’s insect buffet was about eye level for me with nothing blocking my view.

‍According to my favorite website for bird information, All About Birds: "The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent. It’s nearly the size of a crow, black with bold white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest. Look (and listen) for Pileated Woodpeckers whacking at dead trees and fallen logs in search of their main prey, carpenter ants, leaving unique rectangular holes in the wood. The nest holes these birds make offer crucial shelter to many species including swifts, owls, ducks, bats, and pine martens.”