Stately Woodpeckers

     In recent years I have been seeing and hearing pileated woodpeckers in patches of woods and wooded recreational parks where, years ago, I never expected to see them.  And I have been seeing them more frequently than I did years ago.  They're even nesting in places where many years ago one would not expect to see them at all.  Pileateds are attached to large stretches of mature trees, but since many of Pennsylvania's forests have been cut, these adaptable woodpeckers are adjusting to second-growth woods and smaller patches of deciduous woods. 
     Pileated woodpeckers are two feet tall and stately.  Big as a crow, this type of woodpecker is about 18 inches long, with a wingspan of 28 inches, and weighs around 12 ounces.  The magnificent pileateds are mostly black, with white stripes on the face and neck and white on the front of each wing, which are seen when the birds fly.  Both genders have flaming red crests, but those on males are bigger than on females.  And males have red moustaches while females have black ones.  The cartoon character, Woody Woodpecker, with his crazy laugh, was modeled after this kind of North American woodpecker with a loud, laugh-like call.
     Pileated woodpeckers are permanent residents in forests in the eastern United States, across Canada and down the Pacific Coast.  However, they have been adapting to less than forest habitats in the last several years, so today we also see them inhabiting woodlots, wooded parkland and large, older suburban areas with many tall trees.  Their adapting has increased their breeding potential and their numbers, which is good for us who like to see these exciting birds.
     Big as they are, pileated woodpeckers have all the unique characteristics of their family.  They have stiff feathers on their six-inch tails that help hold them upright on tree trunks while they search for food or create nesting cavities.  Each foot has two toes in the front and two in back, which is different than the toe arrangement on most bird species.  Woodpeckers' sharp-nailed toes allow them to cling to vertical tree bark.  Pileateds' two-inch beaks are hard and sharp to chisel into dead wood after invertebrate food and to carve out nesting cavities.  Woodpecker heads are reinforced with bone to withstand the blows of the striking bills.  Pileateds' have an undulating flight, as do all their kin.  And all woodpecker species have long, sticky tongues that are anchored on the birds' foreheads under the skin, wrap over the skull and lie in the long beaks.  After woodpeckers chip into insect tunnels in dead wood, they run their tongues into those burrows.  Insects stick to their tongues and they pull their tongues out to swallow the invertebrates.             
     Pileateds are also unique in that they chisel out deep, vertically-rectangular holes in dead wood when searching for food.  Even if we don't see or hear pileateds in a woodland, we know they are there because of those holes in trees that only this big, majestic woodpecker produces.
     Like all their family members, pileateds carve out nurseries for young in dead wood in woodlands and other wooded habitats.  Each pair annually raises three or four offspring.  When the youngsters are ready to fledge their tree nurseries, they, too, have red crests on their heads.
     Other kinds of woodland critters use abandoned woodpecker holes, including the large ones of pileateds.  Wood ducks, barred owls, screech owls, squirrels, raccoons and other species live in deserted pileated holes, and raise young in them, as well.
     The big, beautiful pileated woodpeckers are always exciting to experience.  And because of their adaptations to less than ideal conditions for them, they are increasing in numbers and living where they had not for many years.  They benefit from their adjustments and so do we.