April 25, 2021
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Pileated Woodpecker 001
The pileated woodpeckers are pretty active around our house. It is time for them to start building a new nesting cavity for this year’s young. I love listening to their distinctive call and drumming sound in the mornings.
Pileated Woodpecker 002
They pick very dry hollow trees so their deep, rolling pattern of drumming will echo across the forest. This one is the female. Females have a partial red crest similar to the males but don’t have the red cheek stripe. This tree is right by our house so it allows us to hear them drumming as we wake up in the morning. You can see the mark in the tree where they drum so the vibrations make the loudest sound.
Pileated Woodpecker 003
The male is more photogenic with the full red crest and red mustache.
Pileated Woodpecker 005
Each year they build a new nesting cavity about 15 feet high in an aspen or pine.
Pileated Woodpecker 006
The male is throwing the chips over his shoulder as he cleans out the nest.
Pileated Woodpecker 007
A few years ago, they chose a tree that had a weak spot in it and the first big wind took off the top of the tree. It broke right where the nest cavity was. I didn’t think the babies would survive but the parents kept feeding them and the babies fledged a couple weeks later.
Pileated Woodpecker 008
One year I found a nest cavity in a birch tree. If any of you have worked with birch lumber you know how impenetrable it is. They have to hit the wood with amazing force thousands of times to chip out a cavity. If it wasn’t for the fact that woodpeckers have high impact resistant scull and tongue bones that protect the brain it would be impossible.
Pileated Woodpecker 009
When you see them flying it is like they are a relic of a prehistoric period of time.