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From their flaming red crest, to their maniacal laughing calls, this is one bird you don’t want to miss.  There’s no mistaking a Pileated woodpecker call—their loud, escalating shrieks bring to mind a maniacal laugh and can be heard from a distance.  The birds also make a rapid series of cuk-cuk-cuk sounds in flight and when landing.  Territorial calls—useful for alerting other woodpeckers that they’ve entered a Pileated’s turf—are a higher pitched version of this call.  The laugh and appearance of the Pileated is often cited as the inspiration for Woody the Woodpecker, but this seems to be inaccurate: credit apparently goes to the Acorn woodpecker.

The species earns its common and species name, pileatus, from the flashy red crest that covers the pileum, or top of the bird’s head.  Both males and females sport this distinctive red crest, but the male’s extends further toward the bill.

1. The Pileated woodpecker is a fabulous gateway species into birding—especially for young kids  Large and easy to observe without binoculars, the Pileated is native to Canada, the Pacific Northwest, and the Eastern half of the United States. 

2. Excluding the Ivory-billed woodpecker, which is largely believed to be extinct, 22 woodpecker species call North America home.  The Pileated is the largest living woodpecker in North America—nearly three times taller than the petite Downy woodpecker

3. Pileated pairs historically may have required an area as large as 300 to 900 acres to support nestlings, especially in the West, but some pairs now raise young on fewer than 150 acres.  A sure sign that the resilient woodpecker is continuing to adapt:  A pair recently nested in a 74 acre state forest on Staten Island in New York City

4. They rarely nest in the same tree hollow twice.  The strong bill of the Pileated woodpecker chisels a hole in dead (and, occasionally, live) wood to create a home to raise young.  Cavity-nesting ducks that can’t excavate their own holes, such as Wood ducks, rely on these abandoned Pileated cavities to nest.

5. Pileated woodpeckers drum slowly, accelerating and then trailing off at the end, distinguishing them from most other woodpeckers that drum at a steady rate.  The can drum close to 17 beats per second and will perform 10 to 30 beats before they take a break. This behaviour helps them defend territories and attract mates as a part of courtship displays.  However, louder drumming doesn’t conclusively identify a Pileated woodpecker:  A tiny Downy woodpecker’s drumming can be deceptively loud if it’s hammering away on a hollowed-out limb

Both males and females sport the distinctive red crest, but the male’s extends further toward the bill.