We were up on Glenview Road, near the pictured sign where Ashland Loop Road takes off uphill, climbing from about 2400 feet to over 6500 near the Mount Ashland Summit. Right now this road is still under snow most of the way, closed. And there were few birds to be seen or heard in the late afternoon. Even though the setting sun was lending some warmth to the hillside of oak, madrone and evergreen, a chill air temp of less than 50-degrees kept bird activity low. They’d eaten and were preserving calories for another freezing night to come.
But we heard the deliberate, sharp calls of a Pileated Woodpecker. It came from somewhere in the tall trees on a steep slope just to the south of us. Several dead tree trunks near where we walked were riven by the deep cavities excavated by the Pileated’s natural chisel. I’d heard Pileated in the area before. Once I’d seen a pair go after a Cooper’s Hawk nearby. But never a clear view of one. The calls stopped. I checked over the taller trees, then that large-headed, tapered silhouette appeared on the side of a thin, bare, fir top. His two feet and tail brace kept the Pileated at the right angle to the truck for some probing. The Woody Woodpcker crest was in perfect profile. He stayed on the tree long enough for Kate and I to get a good look. Then off he flew, upward onto a wooded slope where he became invisible behind the fir and pine foliage. He was not an Ivory-bill, but he was about as close as most of us can hope to come here in North America,
PILEATED [Dryocopus pileatus]
They’re found in mature woods of the eastern U.S. They range west cross the forested regions of Canada and along the Pacific Coast to southern California. They do not appear south of the U.S. nor as far north as Alaska. Nowhere abundant, but unmistakable in size, unless you imagine you are seeing an Ivory-billed, which is even larger. A Pileated can be over 16 inches long. The wingspan’s over two feet, as much as a medium-sized Cooper’s Hawk. Big beak, big voice. It is by his cavities that you shall know him. Elongated and three-inch wide holes are a trademark of nesting Pileateds. Not the perfectly round holes of lesser woodpeckers. He has no relatives in the same genus in this country, but many cousins in the tropical Americas.
Like all woodpeckers they feed mainly on small animals, and these guys specialize in carpenter ants. They’ll also take fruits and nuts when they’re on the local menu. They may wander far afield but do not migrate. Both males an females work on the nest hole and in rearing the young. They never re-use a nest hole, leaving the cavities to ducks and other needy souls. A Pileated’s nest can be as much as eighty feet above the ground in tall timber. The young spend up to 7 weeks as egglings, then nestlings. Another 2-3 months will be spent as juveniles, following around the parent birds. This is good time to listen for the begging and watch some family activities.
The male has the red moustache, as in Flickers. In general the Pileated has rebounded nicely from the original fellig of the great American forests in the 19th Century. Some now have adapted to forested parks on the edges of large cities.
If you want to hear their great call, click on this link to the Cornell Ornithology site.
Sorry, I don’t have a good photograph to share…yet.
| Dryocopus pileatus | Order PICIFORMES – Family PICIDAE |
